> Fragile Crystals
>  by Peridork
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Xam'd At The Dawn of War
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Celestia, you are the light and the sound, you bring the sun upon our unworthy faces and for that I thank you. I will spread your light over the world and I won’t rest until my mission is done. To prove my devotion, I follow the prescribed Celestial rituals.”

Silver Spoon had waited for this moment for a very long time. To even see their Princess and be inside her private chamber where she spoke to her most trusted associates and delegates was a complete and utter honor.

The halls of the Princess glowed with a green light as the large green crystal floated in the middle of the chamber, the ceremony of a child soldier, one of the Princess’ royal envoys had begun. There was just one more part. Celestia broke off a small piece of the crystal and handed it towards the small filly. Celestia looked saddened because she knew was was coming, always a new pony and  a new crystal, yet it was always the same result.

Silver Spoon swallowed the crystal.


***

Twilight trotted around her room trying to take care of an ongoro seed. She laughed quietly while giving it the magic necessary to bring it to life. Ongoro seeds bloomed into creatures that were the guardians of her tribe of ponies. She left the Crystal Kingdom years ago and these seeds were one of the few things she had from her homeland. She always had a connection with the little things, they seemed to flock to her like she was their own fairy queen and they were her knights. She looked out the window of the ship she was currently on, the Perigee.

***


Luna was relaxing in her captain’s chambers in the Perigee itself. She had gotten it in the last war, after Celestia and her had a final falling out in regards of how a proper country should be run. Luna thought respect gained through sheer strength was right, but Celestia thought using a bit of restraint and using religious fervor to fix her mistakes was an acceptable answer. And that was seventeen years ago, maybe more. When you were an alicorn time was a fleeting moment shaped by memories and those memories were not the best to dwell on.

Luna was currently reading poetry that was very appropriate on a day like today.  “I’ll show you things your eyes have never seen, your smile like a lake in the sun. Like a flower blooming in spring. Sitting on your throne, inscribed with a sun, skin bathed in twilight. At times I’d raise a lamp and take my place as your sister. This pendants release the lights of Friendship which your eyes will never truly see. One who doesn't live for my sake, a child of this country, will bear this fire inside and freeze...”

“These poems make me wonder if my dear sister has seen the signs of the coming battle. One thing about alicorns is that we think of the short term as unimportant and the long term being sacred...right I get it. But I won’t lose sleep over it...” She continued to stare outside when a Celestial ship came straight out of a cloud bank. She quickly grabbed the nearest radio and quickly sent a message through the ship’s wires.

“Anyone there?” 

A blue male pegasus quickly picked up. He used to be a Wonderbolt years before but after the civil war started frivolous jobs  like the Wonderbolts soon fell by the wayside and he found himself out of a job. Luna had felt a twinge of pity when he showed up begging for any job to feed himself. She gave him the best job she could find. The pilot of the Perigee. 

“Yeah?

“Soarin’ what is our current position?”

“Zebrican Sea, flying north to Appleloosa. Why do you ask, Princess?”

“Check behind us 30 lengths.”

“Celestial ships?” Soarin’ remembered the last time their little crew of this postal ship met the Sun Princess' lapdogs. 

“In that case, I can go back to bed. You know this isn’t normally when I’m up. I just put the moon to rest. I’m going to bed soon as well. One question, how many ships are there?”

“Let’s see... twenty ships. That isn't that bad.” The radar suddenly flashed with more blips than the pegasus could believe. “No there is a lot more than twenty, Princess.”


***

Twilight walked down to the general quarters. She woke up Braeburn by kicking him in the stomach. She always thought that that was the most efficient spot to kick the earth pony. 

Braeburn was one of the Apple Clan, a widely spread strain of earth ponies with members in every city and in every level of government. Braeburn was one of the unlucky Apples who fell too close to the apple tree.

“Hey! I was having a nice dream there, Twilight. What was that for?” 

Twilight didn't answer and then the ship’s alarm blared. 

***


“We must investigate international activity over these waters. Under Article 13 of Equestrian Law, if you break any laws, we are permitted to use force.”

The enemy ships didn’t respond. Like usual, the Sun Princess’ ships never answered the Perigee. 

Soarin’ sighed. “No response.”

Luna entered the bridge. Her walk to the bridge from her personal quarters was uneventful, but she was fuming because of those blasted ships.

“These Celestial ships ignore Equestrian Law, Soarin’. The last time anypony spoke of a united Equestria was years ago. It’s six hundred lengths til we reach Ponyville free zone airspace. Even if they go full speed we’ll be right behind them.Find the nearest dock, we don’t want to be caught in the magical bombing.”

“Yes, Princess.”

Luna used a nearby radio to contact Braeburn.

“Get Twilight up! Send her on ahead!”

“She’s already up here in the bridge, ma’am. Is she okay? She kinda kicked me in the stomach hard enough that I don’t think I’m saying anything she might misconstrue...”

The hangar doors opened and the beam kayak Twilight was on was ready for launch. The beam kayaks were similar in design to those newer modeled chariots. The makers of said chariots were  the brothers Flim and Flam, Their “motor company” used the techniques learned from building the Super Cider Squeezy 6000 and combined it with pegasus aerodynamics. The fuel was red skystone that was found mainly in the Crystal Empire and other pockets in Terra. The plan was to give non-pegasi the chance to see the sky like their pegasi friends did. The pair were ultimately successful.

***


Derpy Hooves, the ship’s cartographer finally spoke up. “Ponyville has a medium-sized dock.” 

Luna glanced at the gray pegasus mare and grabbed the radio. “They’ll hit it in ten minutes. Follow my sister’s ships at full speed, Twilight! Go northeast to Ponyville!”

Braeburn carefully yelled to Twilight as he gripped a nearby lever which was set to launch Twilight into the sky. “Ready when you are!”

“Don’t do anything stupid! Just look ahead and fly! Get to Ponyville, look around, and come straight back.” Luna broke down and finally used the Royal Canterlot Voice. “And remember don’t pick up any strange creatures. Remember what happened last time!” 

Braeburn smiled innocently as he pulled the lever into a downward position.”Have a nice trip!”

Twilight and her beam kayak were launched into the sky. She flew toward Ponyville; her beam kayak trailing a rainbow streak through the sky. 

***


The radio crackled out its message. “skies above Ponyville...maintain public order...”

In Sugarcube Corner, a very miffed orange pegasus woke up and was quickly getting ready for school. She was currently trying to find her saddlebags and yell at her mother at the same exact time.”

“What the heck! I asked you to wake me up. Did you even try?”

Her mother, a poofy pink maned earth pony answered back. “Of course I tried! Don’t blame me you sleep like a log, Miss Sleepyhead. Plus you just looked so happy. I couldn't force myself to wake you up. ” Pinkie giggled quietly to herself while Scootaloo just looked at her crazy mother.

“I have my reasons for being tired.” Scootaloo grumbled.

“Your lunch is on the table. Don’t forget it! And take Fluttershy’s...that mare needs to eat sometime.” Pinkie went back to baking cupcakes.

Scootaloo turned on the water to the sink in order to brush her teeth, but all that came out was a strange purple mixture. “Mom! Call the plumber I think we have magical discharge in our water again.”

“But, I thought I just fixed it! Let the water run for a few seconds. That worked for me...”

Scootaloo looks at the carefully prepared meal her mom made. A cupcake with white frosting hid the surprise of a gooey chocolate center and the least important part of the meal  was a daisy sandwich. 

“Sorry, Fluttershy. I can’t bring you your lunch as well.

She quickly ran off without taking the lunch.

She threw all of her things into her scooter and began to go towards the train station for the field trip to the Canterlot museum, but her scooter suddenly lost a wheel and she crashed into the ground. 

***


“Remember to take your... hey Scootaloo? That little...” Pinkie sighed. It was always something with her daughter sometimes she was reckless...other times she didn’t listen to her parents. She was a handful alright but she could never hate her daughter. She was a mother and her instincts were more important than her current feelings.

Pinkie ran out of the house to meet Scootaloo at the school but they ran into each other while Scootaloo was trying to fix her scooter's broken wheel.

“Scootaloo! Take this to our pink butterfly.” Pinkie threw the lunch to her orange daughter.

“Mom, I’m gonna be late for the trip!” Scootaloo caught it and began complaining about the burden of going to the cottage.

“You Pinkie Promised. And you can’t go back on a Pinkie Promise...or else I will ground you.”

“Are you sure this separation is good for you? You know grounding isn’t as fun when you could just jump out of thin air and scare me half to death like when I broke a Pinkie Promise and you showed up inside a mirror to scold me...”

“I’m not the one doing bad, she is.” Pinkie kicked a hoof. She still remembered how Fluttershy became distant once the Lunar Republic military came to Ponyville. She tried to talk to her about it, but Fluttershy always changed the topic into a more peaceful one. It was like she was hiding something.

“Okay then, I’m going. Be careful in work today! I only have one mom, but Ponyville has an entire Cake family to help you with Sugarcube Corner.” Scootaloo placed her helmet on her head and tightened the straps and took a running start to start rolling towards the horizon.

Pinkie waved to her child. “Be careful and keep your eyes on the road. We don’t want another elder claiming you ran over them.”

Scootaloo went full speed to the cottage where Fluttershy lived,  while ships converged on Ponyville.

***

In Sweet Apple Acres the weekly karate club was meeting right before the class trip. Applebloom was the leader of today’s discussion. The club was formed after a cutie mark search had ended. Applebloom realized that she enjoyed the exercise and the CMC had formed the club because they realized that maybe in the future, knowing martial arts would be useful. And with the war between the Alicorn Sisters in full swing...the foals were getting close to military recruitment age.

“My sister says concentration is the most important thing. You must face your opponent head on, and without hesitation make their body a part of your own. She learned that from when she was in the last war. Sweetie Belle!”

A white unicorn with a pink and purple mane hopped up on the makeshift stage made of scrap boards and elbow grease. “Yep!” 

“Let’s spar. Try, try again my sister always says and maybe today we’ll get our cutie marks in karate!” 

The two ponies stood opposite each other waiting for the chance to strike. Applebloom struck first but she was easily countered by Sweetie, who grabbed the hoof of Applebloom and in a surprising display of strength, flipped the farm pony onto her back. “Sweetie y’all did it again, why oh why are you an angel? I wish I could tell you how I feel about you.”

The others cheered. 

Applebloom was blushing fiercely and tried to compose herself.

“As I said, there are no winners or losers in competition. Alright everypony, I think that’s it for today. Y’all don’t wanna miss the class trip, right?” 

“Time to go Sweetie!” Rarity called from the edge of the Apple Family’s property. Rarity had told Sweetie that she was going to see her off on the train because it was her little sister’s first field trip.

***


Scootaloo found the shortcut to the cottage and almost ran over Angel Bunny who quickly shook a fist before hopping off 

“Didn’t Fluttershy tell you anything about crossing the street?” Scootaloo yelled back at the bunny.

***


“I can totally take a few minutes to mess with mom.” Scootaloo ran off into the shortcut that she knew of. She knew it was somewhere around here, it just wasn't always marked as a road... . 

A few minutes later, Rarity, Sweetie Belle, and Applebloom walked right near her scooter.

“Hey Sweetie, is that your friend’s scooter?” Rarity raised an eyebrow at the scooter. It was just so tacky. In her opinion, it needed a few gemstones and a personal basket that was colored with colors that were reminiscent of the colors of Scootaloo’s coat and mane. “Maybe I can use that idea later in my dress designs..."

“Yep, but I wonder why its out here of all places.” Applebloom replied to Rarity’s question with a hint of disbelief. Applebloom counted the number of times Scootaloo had been late to class and if today was like the others, her friend was going to be late again. She knew that she could win a bet with those odds.

“I bet it has to do with her parents. They have been going through a rough patch.” Sweetie remembered all the talks she and Scootaloo had about her orange friend’s strange home life.

“Our friend is always late.” Applebloom grinned. She knew that Sweetie couldn’t resist a bet. Now if she would only take the hint...

“If she’s on time, you owe me a milkshake.” The white filly took the bait. Applebloom smiled at her luck. She wanted another apple fritter. She could just get it from her family, but it was so much sweeter when could get it in a competition.

“And if she’s not you owe me an apple fritter and apple soda.”

Sweetie fumed. The CMC’s all had a competitive streak in them. But she believed in Scootaloo. The orange pegasus would definitely get to the train on time.

Rarity placed a hoof on her little sister. “Calm down Sweetie, don’t let that farmer get you down.”

Sweetie sighed and walked on towards the train station. “Yeah, Rarity, I know.”

***


Scootaloo had been lost for a good two minutes and finally found the correct way to Fluttershy’s cottage. It wasn’t her fault for going the wrong way. It was the fault of whoever built the stupid path.

“I knew all that stubbornness I have would come in handy.” Scootaloo galloped to the door of the cottage.

She almost opened the front door of the cottage, but was interrupted by Golden Harvest. Golden Harvest, ever since the last carrot harvest, had had a bad back and she was resolute that only Fluttershy was able to give the required care to her back. The alternative was to wait in a military hospital for hours.

“Is the doctor up yet?” Golden Harvest had been waiting since sunrise.

“She’ll be up soon just wait a little longer.”

Scootaloo walked through the critter-filled house. Since the ponies of Ponyville trust the quiet mare more than the new military doctors, Fluttershy had been pulling double duty of being an animal caretaker and a medical doctor. It was a burden on the quiet mare and every once in awhile she would collapse on the spot and be unresponsive for a day or two. 

“Wake up, Mom.”

Scootaloo opened the office door and was shocked. All of the neat piles she made a few days ago were ruined. It looked like a tornado had uprooted all of the office supplies and thrown them about the room. And in the middle of the chaos slept her pegasus mother. The snoring coming from the mare was consistent and she moved slowly in her sleep.

“Mom! Get up. Golden Harvest is here again. Hey, butterfly!” Scootaloo waved her hoof in front of the yellow mare’s face. Nothing. This called for the emergency maneuver.She plugged Fluttershy’s nose with her hoof and waited. Slowly, Fluttershy began to panic as she realized that she couldn't breathe. She woke up with a quiet shout. Scootaloo smirked.

“I guess you're up now. I’m coming back later so clean up a bit.” She said it like a ritual, like without those words the ceremony of the morning awakening would not be completed correctly.

“I owe you one.” Fluttershy wiped her eyes. She looked like a mess. Her pink hair was disheveled and bags were under her eyes because of sleep deprivation.

“You sure do, Dr. Tired.”

“You know how bad I am without coffee.” Fluttershy yawned and tried to get up to make herself a pot of coffee. She felt like coffee was the only thing that kept her awake now.

“Mom, Red Mark’s disciplinary squad is coming by later. Be careful,you don’t want another bad mark on your clinic here.” Fluttershy cringed at the memory of that stallion. It was a memory best forgotten. The boorish brute terrified all of her animals that she had to close the clinic for an entire week to calm down her animal friends. 

“Scootaloo, remember what I told you before? Kindness without thought is just charity. You need to believe that your kindness will change the world.” Scootaloo knew what was coming next. Her mom always had some sort of weird saying.

Both of them said the final line. “Think about it!”

“Well, I’m going, mom.” Scootaloo ran off and briefly called back to Golden Harvest.

“She’ll be with you soon.” Golden Harvest happily waved back at the orange pegasus.

Scootaloo quickly headed off towards the train station. She looked at the sky and realized that she was going to be one of the last ponies on the bus. “Horsefeathers, I’m so late!”

***

Xam’d At the Dawn of War

***


“After six o’ clock no unauthorized ponies or chariots past Sixth Street.”

The bells rung as the line of young ponies boarded the train.The conductor continually called out ‘Next!’ as more and more ponies showed them their hoof bands while he checked the list for students. Applebloom and Sweetie Belle were arguing.

“She’s super late.” Sweetie Belle was worried. Normally Scootaloo was only a little late. Today she was almost fifteen minutes late. If she didn’t hurry up the train would leave without her.

“Y’all know how she is with school trips. I bet she isn’t even coming. I’ve won this bet.” The yellow earth pony was restless. She absolutely hated waiting. It was against her nature to just wait for something. If she had her way she would try to find a way to find her cutie mark instantly. It was the same with waiting in lines. 

Sweetie Belle playfully mocked her friend.”No winners or losers in competitions... Remember that when I win this.”

“Gah, what you say sometimes...” 

Another filly in line was unfamiliar to the rest of the class. Silver Spoon was ready for her mission given to her by the Celestial Princess. “It is your will to create, and my live to give in the purpose of ours. A purpose years in the making, repeated over and over in different locations. May this time also create a X’amd.”

***


Scootaloo could see the bus. She was going as fast as she could before the bus could leave her pile of awesomeness behind. 

Sweetie saw her coming from a couple yards. “Scoots!”

Applebloom was shocked. She had been so close to getting a free apple fritter.

“I told you guys I’d make it!” Scootaloo tossed her scooter in the student bike racks and galloped towards the the other Crusaders. “I win! What were you waiting for me?”

Sweetie Belle beamed at her pegasus friend.

Applebloom mumbled quietly to herself. “If y’all gonna come on a trip, come earlier.”

Scootaloo barely heard her friend. “What’s that mean, Applebloom?”

“It means that Applebloom owes me a milkshake.” Sweetie Belle giggled at Applebloom’s attitude.

“Okay I’ll get you one.” Applebloom turned to Scootaloo. “Scoots, get in line. It’s not your problem. Its my fault for doubting your speed.” 

Scootaloo got in line behind Silver Spoon. When it was the gray filly’s turn to move she didn’t and it surprised Scootaloo a little, but she didn’t think much of it. Scootaloo looked up towards the sky. “There sure are a lot of planes today.” 

The conductor called for the next in line and Scootaloo encouraged Silver Spoon with a push.”Hoof band?” Silver Spoon didn’t answer. The conductor sighed deeply.”Well fine then miss, you can’t get on the train without one.” 

Scootaloo budged in front of the line and provided a distraction for Silver Spoon.

“Hey you get back in line.” The conductor yelled at Scootaloo in order for him to get her attention.

Scootaloo smiled sweetly at the old stallion.  I hope you let me in without one. You trust me, right?”

“Your hoof band?” 

Scootaloo grinned sheepishly at the conductor and ruffled her hair with a hoof. “I, uh, dropped it on the way here. I got my identification in my saddlebags.”

Silver Spoon looked down and noticed that that orange pegasus had dropped her arm band in front of her. “She must be helping me.”

“I’ll let you on this train just this once."

Scootaloo nodded and boarded the train without another word.

Silver Spoon showed the conductor the armband that that orange pegasus had dropped.

“Next time put it on your left hoof! That’s it, 38 accounted for!”The train began to move slowly and surely towards Canterlot.

***


Applebloom whispered at her unusually quiet friend.”Scoots, what the heck was all of that?”

Sweetie nudged her friends and pointed a hoof at the gray filly in the front of the train “Is she a transfer student?”

“No clue. Maybe she’s a refugee from one of those larger cities that was bombed by the Celestials. Scoots, don’t get any ideas about that new student. Remember your last love interest.”

“What are you looking at me for? It is not my fault I’m just too awesome for my own good.” Scootaloo smiled nonchalantly. 

Applebloom rolled her eyes.”Whatever.”

Sweetie blushed heavily. “Scootaloo...”

Scootaloo waved happily at Silver Spoon who quickly smiled back.

***


“Free Zone fighters are now crossing into the 29th line. Civilian chariots are not permitted within 13 lengths until 2 pm. This is the latest report from the Ponyville military base... This is the Lunar Republic’s Free Zone Defense Cable. Ponyville is clear for today. The Free Zone’s defense line is protecting you.”

Scootaloo stared blankly outside the window until she noticed something strange.

“Celestial ships? What are they doing here?”

***


The military base had been on emergency status since the morning. Scouts had told the commanders about a heavy Celestial presence in the area. The attack was imminent.

“Report?”

“Unidentified crafts approaching 29th line from the direction of the Zebrican Sea. About 30 of them.”

“Checking actions against all flight plans.”

A light brown earth pony stood at the helm of the command center's base of operations. He wondered on days like today why he didn't stay on Sweet Apple Acres payroll. "Oh wait that was almost ten years ago." Caramel groaned. He knew that accepting the general officer position would be a pain, but this took the cake. He had to stay calm. If he didn't, the ponies under his command were going to figure out that something was wrong. “Let’s be safe. Send Lunar Ships to defense positions. An invasion on a day like this...This place isn’t a Lunar Republic colony, it’s a neutral city.”

“The planes aren't on any schedules!”

“Hulls are confirmed. New models from the Celestial government!”

Caramel was even more worried. If they were here...he knew what was in their hulls. The weapons that were created a decade ago. “Buck my life!  This is a civilian enclave. Send word to the guard. Say that I allow force. We will definitely need it.”

***


“Abundant water, beautiful greenery, according to the revision to the Constitution, due to the severity of the casualties from the war, from now on, we must preserve the peace of this island with our own hands...”

Silver Spoon was ready. she grabbed the trigger of the organic bomb from her saddlebags. The group was finally at the Ponyville museum, right outside of town. It was just far away enough that small ponies couldn’t walk there as easily. It was a perfect location for a demonstration of the power of the Sun. She slowly got up from her seat. 

***


The CMC’s had just become comfortable in their seats. Sweetie was pulling onto one of Scootaloo’s wings. 

“Come on Scootaloo. When do you think we’ll get to Canterlot?”

“You know, I could have caught up with you if you had went on ahead. But, you know we could still be friends...even if you do wait for me.”

“Your mother told me to watch out for you. So I will wait as long as I want.” Sweetie huffed and crossed her arms.

Silver Spoon brought the trigger down on the explosive package containing a hiruko, a stone containing the essence of a X’amd. 

Xam'd were living weapons taking the soul of a pony and changing it into a machine with logical reasoning skills. There were always failures, those that let their strong emotions of hate and loneliness automatically turned to stone. They needed a reason to live. Living was the highest form of harmony known to ponykind. The weapons who survived were graced by the Sun Princess herself with special powers. The lower forms who were not chosen by the stone and forced into the form by science were called Ponyform weapons. They were incomplete forms of perfection.

The bus exploded sending debris and students flying into the street. The destruction spread until it covered an entire city block. Scootaloo hit the ground hard and rolled; her pegasi natural athleticism helped cushion her fall. Her first thought was of Sweetie Belle.

Scootaloo tried to regain the air that had been forced out of her lungs when she hit the ground. Everything looked wrong. The train was in disarray and they were only a few miles from Ponyville. She looked around for Sweetie Belle but she couldn't find her. “Sweetie?” 

She noticed a blinding light coming from the epicenter of the blast. Scootaloo limped towards the light slowly, but before she could get too close it reacted to her presence and gently touched her right hoof. She was unnerved by the light until the pain started. The nearest feeling she could think of that the pain felt like was that of tiny bugs crawling right under her skin. 

Applebloom found her right away. “Scootaloo? Are you okay? Where’s Sweetie Belle?”

"I'm...f-fine" Scootaloo gritted her teeth and headed off with Applebloom to search for their other friend. Both of them found Sweetie huddled up in a fetal position suffering from mental shock.

Applebloom tried to touch Sweetie but she shied away from her friend. Sweetie began to sob heavily. “Why is this happening to us? I've been a good pony...”

Scootaloo had to ask the obvious question. “Is she okay?”

“I’ll carry her to the hospital” Applebloom had a determined look in her face.

Scootaloo was worried about the rest of the city.

“Maybe somepony is attacking Ponyville.”

“Don’t joke about that. Y’all know that the adults would take care of any attack. My sister would personally make these ponies pay for what they've done. Anyway, I thought we purged those extremist Celestials a long time ago. Don’t you get it? It must be the new Celestial government.”

Scootaloo saw from her peripheral vision Silver Spoon limping slowly away from the scene of the crime. Scootaloo had to talk to that filly. She wanted to learn why she had done this.

“Scootaloo, stop being crazy! Get away from that filly! Come back here now... Scootaloo...Listen to me, please?”

***


Scootaloo finally cornered the unknown filly after chasing her for a few hundred yards. Suddenly the pain started back up again. This time it was worse. A large pressure was trying to get out of her leg. When she looked back down at her leg she was surprised to see a large blue crystal pulsating like it was alive sticking right out of her fur. 

Scootaloo chuckled darkly. Her mind tried to find something that she could say. Finally she found the best comeback she could think of while being under stress.  “At least it doesn’t clash badly with my coat color.”

Then as soon as it appeared, it disappeared straight into her leg. There wasn't even a scratch or blood where it had been. It had completely healed over. The only thing to show that it still existed was a dull pain in her right leg.

“What in the name of Tartarus is going on?” She guessed that the gray filly could explain what just happened.

Scootaloo crouched down and poked the unknown filly to see if she was still alive. She pushed the gray filly and when she did that she saw that her newest acquaintance was covered in green blood. “Green blood? Is she a Changeling? She is a Changeling right? Mom said Changelings have green blood and it makes sense, they are bugs right?”

Silver Spoon smiled weakly at that nice pegasus. “Sorry to mix you into this. I really think that we could have been great friends...I’m Silver Spoon, by the way. Who are you?” 

Silver Spoon waited for an answer while coughing up blood. The explosion had taken a lot out of her. 

“I’m Scootaloo.”

“Scootaloo, what a pretty name. It's okay. You'll be blessed by the Sun Princess. I'm jealous of you right now. Along with our equine memories of harmony, you are a Xam’d.” 

Silver Spoon reached up and bumped a hoof on Scootaloo’s head. When she lifted her hoof, Scootaloo had a small red gem similar to her blue one she saw earlier on her head. Then the weird feelings happened again. A white mask with red and green highlighting where her eyes would be, stretched across her face and it scared her to no end. She tried to pull it off her face but to no avail, it was secured to face like a second face.

***


Applebloom wrapped Sweetie Belle’s injuries after she had found a first aid kit from the destroyed bus. 

“This is an emergency. Wait here Sweetie, I’m gonna help our classmates.” 

A military car pulled up and a stern pony hopped out and called out to his troops. “All units, get off. Get the injured ponies on the chariot. If they are too hurt, unicorns are ordered to levitate them onto the chariot.” He continued to trot around asking ponies if any injured ponies had been on the train. “I need to check the passenger list of the train. Anypony with armbands needs to show them to me now!

***


Twilight had been flying for a long time and was pretty tired. When she was about to turn around, she heard the telepathic cry of a newly formed Xam'd. She flew towards the newborn cry. 

***


Soarin’ called out through the ship wide radio system. “We are a few miles out from Ponyville.” 

Braeburn had gotten onto the bridge and was sitting in one of the extra chairs. He had been thinking deeply for the last couple of minutes, finally he spoke up. “ Isn't Ponyville a pretty much neutral zone? It’s strange they would be attacking this tiny town.” 

The crew of the Perigee were shocked to see Twilight scoop towards the Ponyville museum. 

Luna was worried. “What is that idiot doing?”

Soarin’ spoke calmly. “She just wants to scout out what's ahead.” 

“Are you ponies crazy? Do you remember the last time she did something like this? Call her kayak. Get her on magical communications."

Luna grabbed the radio in her magic. 

“Twilight, you are not alone. You have friends who care about you. You need the power of friendship to be a crazy pony. Without them you just have a death wish.” 

Twilight didn't heed Luna's words and blasted off in a rainbow wake.

***


Scootaloo was whimpering. The power of the stone was changing her body. The gem had sent out orange lines that looked like snakes all around her arm. Then she felt it, her arm had changed. The influence of the stone had turned her dark orange leg into an abomination. An arm with actual fingers was where her leg was before. It was a brilliant white with some orange markings that only hinted at the filly trapped inside. Her tiny wings also had a transformation. The stubby things had become sharp because they had become covered in the goop that the crystal had covered her with.Then the goop finally completed her transformation by covering her entire body. Her back legs became similar to those that diamond dogs had. It gave her the ability to stand on her hind legs without difficulty. 

The transformation was complete when her body had accepted the stone and she stared at the world through her mask. Without the orange lines on her arms, legs, and head she was as white as Sweetie Belle and her sister.

***


Applebloom was terrified she had ran past all the destruction and death only run into that thing.She tried to find Scootaloo and she saw her running near here, but this thing appeared out of nowhere. “What is that thing?” Her legs locked up in fear.

A guardspony’s voice snapped Applebloom out of her frozen stance.”Get the the injured to safety!”  

Applebloom noticed Sweetie Belle galloping straight towards her. She angrily turned towards her friend. “Sweetie! I told you to wait!” 

“But what about Scootaloo?”

“I don’t know. Just turn around and run because that thing,” Applebloom pointed at the white diamond dog thing. “is probably angry and we don’t want to be near it when it attacks.”

The soldier charged up his horn and shot off a few magic bolts. Scootaloo didn’t dodge and was hit full force by the blasts and was thrown into a nearby wall. The soldier breathed a sigh of relief. That thing was too similar to those Ponyform weapons the Celestial government used.

Sweetie Belle heard the voice of Scootaloo in her head. “I don’t want to die. I want to be with my friends and live here peacefully in Ponyville.”  Sweetie turned her head and stared at the creature. “Scootaloo?”

***


The Celestial Ships arrived in Ponyville, ready to drop off their cargo. The ships were under orders to find and capture the X’amd. The signal had been located in the museum district. But first they had to test out the strength of the creature. 

“Release the Ponyform weapon”
> Blackout In Ponyville
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Multiple ponyform containers dropped from the sky. Their packages ready to cause havoc and destruction on the town of Ponyville. Their controllers who sit on the inside of the creations want to spread the power of the Celestial Princess. The containers start to open with a sound similar to a train whistle.

“What is that sound?” The soldier was unnerved by the sound of a train whistle especially now that the small town currently had no train.

“Sounds like somethings going to be happening.” Sweetie Belle felt nervous.

Scootaloo quietly healed from her wounds and began to get back on her feet. She turned to the pony that tried to shoot her down and stared him straight in the eye without moving a muscle.

“Get back!” The soldier readied his horn, but Sweetie bucked him hard in the side and it broke his concentration. To make sure that it would not happen again, she grabbed him and tossed him into a nearby wall.

“Oh no I just...why did I?” Sweetie tried to regain her breath.

Applebloom and another soldier galloped towards the commotion. The soldier readied his weapon, but Applebloom stopped him by quickly speaking to him. 

“What did you just do, Sweetie? Do you want to die?”

Scootaloo was fully on her feet. Everyone realizes and turns to look at her. Her shape made normal ponies scared because it was so different from the pony standards. She was closer is shape to a Diamond Dog, but taller, more graceful, and a strange enough color that they knew that whatever she was, it was not normal.

“Is that the monster?”

“Yeah it just appeared on the train.”.

***


The ponyform slithered out of the organic container it was originally in. It was controlled by the consciousness of an earth pony which is piloting it from the inside using a mental link. It looked similar to an earth pony: four legs and very study. Then there were the differences: eye-like places that shot lasers, its was the size of a house and it only focused on destruction.

“It is a ponyform weapon!”

A pony fired an airblast spell and damaged the monster. It quickly healed the damage and got back up and began its retaliation. It fired one of it laser beams and hit the town hall which implodes and creates a vacuum. Ponies were sucked into the resulting vacuum and were brutally thrown around the destruction.

“Call headquarters, we need reinforcements!”

“Come here and stay close to me Sweetie.” She tried to lunge for the hoof of her friend.

Sweetie tried to gallop over to Applebloom, but she was grabbed by the white creature and it  wouldn’t let go of her.

The ponyform fired another laser beam and it barely missed Sweetie and Scootaloo. The laser hit the City Hall and the blast caused nearby debris to fly through the air. Sweetie finally was released when the wind died down and ran to safety right before the ponyform charged straight into the smaller newly created Xam’d that wanted to protect Ponyville. The momentum threw Scootaloo through a house. The ponyform followed on behind.

“Let it go, Sweetie. Can’t you tell that the armistice the Celestials signed ten years ago to not attack this place is now useless. We need to do what we can and survive this. Scootaloo would tell you the same thing.”

Sweetie ran off towards the path of destruction in search for her friend and to make sure that the helpful creature she met would stay safe.

“Sweetie, don’t tell me I didn’t warn you.” She shook her head vigorously and ran towards the center of town to get help for the wounded.

***


The ponyform weapon continued to run at a loping gait throughout the town, destroying anything in its path, Scootaloo could only hold on as her body was battered by debris and slowly climbed up the monster’s snout. As the last moment, she jumped off and the ponyform weapon ran into Carousel Boutique. 

Scootaloo’s momentum was uncontrollable and since her Xam’d form did not have wings, she could not control her descent. Throwing caution to the winds, she tried to aim for the nearby stream that ran nearby. She tried to land gracefully, but her attempt was in vain. Hitting the ground hard, she slid ten meters until she stopped. 

“I have to stop it here and now. Ponyville is just not ready for these things. Right before Dash left on the journey around Equestria she planned, she said one thing to me. ‘If you have to use force, only use it for the protection of your friends, kid.’ I want to protect my friends. I need to protect my friends!”

The ponyform lumbered down the embankment and aimed one of it’s laser eyes towards the filly. The laser cut through the air until it was blocked by Scootaloo’s hand which had turned into a shield.

“That’s new. Let’s see what else I can do.”

Scootaloo searched through her mind and found a limit to what she could do. She finally came to the conclusion that she just had to overcome that limit and become the best she could be.

”Limit Release. Attributes increased by a factor of ten.”

The shockwave that was given off provided a lightshow to the entire town. The Celestial ship that were above the point of release began to explode in the air because of the power given off.Scootaloo threw all cares to the wind and ran towards the ponyform weapon.and punched it with all her might. The monster writhed in pain and bucked her into the nearby street. The filly began to sprint towards an unknown place to get out of the city, on her heels the ponyform gave chase.

***


“Put those fires out! Reinforce the South!”

Sweetie continued following the destruction as Ponyville continued to burn. The streets that she had ran through carelessly in the morning now  seemed like a completely different scene. It was out of her worst nightmares and she hoped that wherever Scootaloo was headed was safe and better looking than here.

“Scootaloo? Where are you?” Sweetie yelled as she ran down the street.

***


“Finally! I  think this is far enough.”

Scootaloo landed on the ground. Her journey had carried her to the outskirts of Ponyville and she realized that she was standing in the Apple Family’s southern orchard. She mentally grimaced, her mask being unable to show emotion. “I hope Bloom forgives me for what I’m going to do.”

The ponyform galloped blindly towards its enemy; its face was dented inwards because of Scootaloo’s punch and it was swaying side to side attempting to correct for the pain it was dealt. The orange filly knew that she had to finish it and her arm changed accordingly. In place of an arm, she had a blade the color of her coat. She charged towards the creature, ready to lay down her life for her friends.

***


Sweetie could only watch in terror as her friend was thrown into the ground again and again. Soon she couldn’t take it anymore and began to cry.”Scootaloo I know you can hear me. You don’t have to throw your life away. I don’t know what you’ve become...but please just stop this.”

The ponyform grew tired of the small squeky pony that was creating pain for its hearing sensors. It grabbed a nearby sapling in its teeth and threw it like a javelin towards the white pony. Sweetie Belle could just watch in terror as the weapon drew towards her. She hoped that Scootaloo could hear her prayer.

“Scootaloo!”

A large white and orange hand that reminded Sweetie Belle of Rarity’s story of what Diamond Dogs paws looked like wrapped around the much smaller filly’s body.

“You called?”

In her other hand Scootaloo was grasping onto the javelin that had been thrown towards her defenseless friend. Sweetie Belle was relieved to hear her friend’s voice emanate from the creature that saved her.

“Now you are going to pay, whoever or whatever you are cause you just tried to hurt my friends. And you should never do that because you now have to deal with me. Ponyville’s premier Cutie Mark Crusader. And ponies know not to mess with my friends”

***


Twilight looked through the telescope that she was magically holding in her purple aura. She finally saw what she had heard during the trip over here.

“A completed Xam’d? What brought it all the way into Lunar territory?”

She pushed her beam kayak towards the new discovery, the rainbow trail providing a prismatic compliment to the purple unicorn mare.

***


Sweetie Belle tried to reason with her newly transformed friend. “Scootaloo! Put me down, you don’t have to fight that monster.”

Scootaloo didn’t listen and changed her arm into the orange blade again. She charged towards the monster and right before impact with its leg, she swung outwards in an arc and she felt her arm get covered in blood. When she opened her eyes again, she saw the ponyform weapon beginning to fall because of a missing leg. Its stump that was left was spraying out green blood. In a desperation move, one of the lasers tried to hit Scootaloo, but it was easily dodged by rolling on the field.

“It isn’t dead yet.”

The white diamond dog figure that used to be Scootaloo charged again towards the downed monster and began punching it over and over. The body of the ponyform weapon began to crystallize into a purple rock formation before Sweetie Belle’s eyes. 

Sweetie Belle looked up when she heard footsteps coming towards her. She saw a purple unicorn gallop towards her. The unknown mare was covered in flight gear and had a rod of some foreign design. Before Sweetie could cry out to warn her friend, the mare leaped into the air and stabbed Scootaloo in her arm. Scootaloo stopped moving and stood at attention staring with her unblinking mask at the new arrival.

The purple mare began to speak. “What is a completed X’amd doing in a place like this?”

“What are you talking about and who are you anyway?”

Scootaloo’s arm began to turn into the purple crystals as well. The test of purpose had begun. Twilight carefully ran through the questions she had learned to ask Xam’d in the training she had got from her old mentor, Princess Celestia.

“Is this thing originally a pony?”

“She is not a thing, she used to be my friend Scootaloo...so of course she’s a pony! She can’t be dead!” She already did not like this purple mare.

The purple crystals continued their journey up Scootaloo’s arm. They covered a larger and larger area and slowly Scootaloo was in pain.

“These crystals are slowly eating your equinity. Come with me if you want to learn how to control your powers. If you want to live then Pinkie Promise me!”

Twilight gripped her hiruko controlling rod tighter in her magic aura. Waiting for an answer by a Xam’d was the hardest part of her moral crusade against such unequine treatment of Equestrian citizens by their rulers.

Sweetie Belle continued to sob loudly into the hand of Scootaloo. She thought all hope was lost until she heard a whisper come from the mind of her friend.

“I want to live.”

Twilight breathed a sigh of relief. The test of purpose was over. She sent a shock wave throughout the arm of the white Xam’d and the crystals crumbled off the arm of the creature and the hiruko mind stone on the Xam’d’s head turned back from a red attack stone into an inert blue state. The pony inside mentally collapsed from exhaustion. 

Twilight glanced over at the small white pony. “Your friend’s soul is now under your guidance and care. You may not know why this has happened yet, but you will be instrumental in saving this world from itself.”

Scootaloo began to glow with a white light as she slowly turned back into her original shape and size.

“You heard it as well. I saw that you did and for that reason I give the spirit of harmonic resonance over to you...don’t cry for the loss of your friend.”

Before Sweetie could react, the strange purple mare hit her with a sleep spell and she collapsed to the ground unconscious. She saw Scootaloo being carried by the unknown mare, the only thing different about Scootaloo was her new front right leg that was mainly white with some orange lines in it. 

Twilight groaned. “Another loyal pony that stopped thinking. Why do I always get these types of ponies?” She lifted Scootaloo to her shoulders and walked off towards her beam kayak.
***

Sweetie

Sweetie

“Sweetie!”

Sweetie jolted awake, the sunset surprising her. It meant that she had been asleep for almost half a day. Applebloom knelt beside her. Her friend was covered in dust and grime gained by walking through the newly destroyed rubble. She noticed Applebloom was nursing a slight limp. It was not very noticeable but it was there.

She would ask about it later. It was time for rest.

***


The Perigee was anchored in the air dock in Ponyville. The crew had become restless waiting for their missing companion. 

Braeburn paced back and forth restlessly. “Ya’ll guys know that she usually isn't this late and shouldn't we search for her?”

Luna face hoofed. “I have said multiple times that she does this every time, just be patient.”

“But...captain. I could go search for her.”

Luna finally snapped. She had been hearing the same excuses over and over all day. She wanted to sleep for all day tomorrow. “Braeburn, you can go search for her, but if anything happens to you...know that I won’t send a search party. You know how difficult it is for me to get so near to my sister’s sphere of influence.”

Soarin’ laughed. “Hey Braeburn you should probably keep you eyes on our game. Read ‘em and weep because I have a royal flush!” Soarin’ slammed his cards down and began to take the pile of bits that the two stallions had gambled.

“Soarin’ my old pal, that’s my entire month’s pay! Come back! Derpy, can’t you talk to Soarin’?”

Derpy held his stare with a lopsided grin. “It was your choice. I can’t help you at all. You should learn to not gamble against my friend because he has an unbeatable poker face. I do remember last month when we had this exact conversation...so no I can’t help your problem at all.” 

Derpy skipped off with a new spring in her step. 

A mint green unicorn gleefully walked up towards the group. Lyra, the Perigee’s mechanic, was showing off her newly gotten wares.

“Ponyville’s got the best anti-grav devices in all of Ponyville. And look here, I found parts to build a laser cannon to fight those Celestial ships.”

Luna’s patience for waiting was growing thinner and thinner. She just grinned and thought of happier times. Times where her sister and her saw eye to eye on what to do with Discord. That draconequus was still encased in the prison the two placed him in, and yet his broadcasts through the communicators and radio systems throughout Equestria meant that he had a very large influence in what happened in the day to day power struggle.

Luna felt a pull on her right leg and looked down at the offending pony. She saw Dinky and Amethyst Star looking up at her. And they were holding another pet that they had found. “I thought I outlawed pets on my ship.”

“Princess Lulu, I think this bunny rabbit is lost.” Dinky tried to be as cute as possible while Angel Bunny was attempting to find a way out of this predicament. “Can we keep him?”

“No. And my word is law. How many times have I said that I don’t want pets on my ship?”

“But...Lulu...” Dinky’s eyes welled up with tears.

Amethyst Star stood her ground. “Princess Luna, my sister wants a pet and if she can’t have this small rabbit,” She pointed in the direction of the sunset. “Twilight can’t have that pony.”

The group was ecstatic. Soarin’ was already prepared for takeoff. “Get the supplies on board. We’re getting out of this town and into the sky.”

Luna could just smile in wonder. “Twilight, you amaze me again. i continually see why my sister chose you for her apprentice. Now if you only saw your own worth.”

***


The Perigee lifted off into the air.

“Rotating 180 degrees to the Northeast. Resuming original course for Manehattan.”

Luna shouted out the final orders for the ship. “Take off!”

With that Soarin’ gripped the controls and blasted off towards Manehattan.

***


Blackout In Ponyville

***


“Any Celestial ships so far, Soarin’?” Luna was restless. she tried to go back to sleep, but her nerves had kept her awake so far.

“I don’t see any, Princess.”

“Honestly, I have no idea how much I can take.”

Braeburn spoke up and got the courage to say what was on everypony’s minds. “So how long is the Xam’d gonna stay this time?”

“How should I know? These poison jokes seem to be attracted to our court magician. The engines might give out from all the new weight.”

Soarin’ groaned. “You and I have been over this multiple times, the ship is not going to crash every time we add a new passenger.”

***


Twilight was bandaging Scootaloo’s leg. Surprisingly, bandages kept the arm in a normal state because of how the binding wrapped the leg tight enough for the hiruko to not activate. She went through the motions and tapped a hoof at where the stone was. The fur accepted the added pressure and the stone came into view again. She knew what was coming next and it always was the hardest part.

Twilight grasped the holy water in her magic and poured it on the blue stone. Scootaloo grunted in pain when her leg reacted and began to shift back into her Xam’d arm. The purple mare grabbed a magic suppressing rod from her box of tools and jammed it through Scootaloo’s leg. Twilight added pressure and Scootaloo stayed still, the added binding keeping her arm in check.

A knock woke up Twilight. Braeburn charged into the room ready to fight whatever Twilight had brought onto the ship. “I got ya, you ponyform monster. Don’t you be hurting Miss Twilight.” He looked more like a joke with his 'armor' being made of pieces of scrap metal and pots. His weapon was a broom that he must have found somewhere nearby.

“Braeburn, be quiet. The hiruko just fell asleep and i don’t want her to wake up just yet.”

“Ya’ll don’t mean that this filly is still alive?” Braeburn eyed the filly. She didn't seem like a murderer of ponies or a monster that ate ponies for no reason other than to put fear in the minds of survivors. He thought that all ponyform users were something like that.

“Yeah, she’s made it this far. She won’t turn to stone just yet.”

“If, uh, anything comes up...”

Twilight smiled. “Don’t worry. I’m just going to take a much needed break.” She heard the door close behind Braeburn, but she knew that the stallion would be right outside the door protecting her room from any intruders. Even if his armor was inadequate for battle...


***


Angel was on his walk around the ship ready to cause as much mischief as possible. He had enough carrots to barrage this pony called Braeburn with much needed pranking. He readied two carrots and tossed them towards the earth pony. 

“Wha-hey. Get back here you varmint!” He finally caught the creature after a long chase that tired out both parties.

Drat, the pony caught me.

“Aren’t you that rabbit we got from Ponyville?” Angel just stuck out his tongue.

Amethyst Star and Dinky trotted down the hall. “His name is Angel. But he is an Equestrian Cottontail. ”

Dinky glared at him. “If you hurt my rabbit...”

Amethyst glanced at Dinky. “Dinky, be nice to Braeburn. So, how is the new pony in town.”

“Nothing to write home about.” Braeburn shrugged. She definitely wasn’t as flashy as the last one that got on their ship.

“Is she nicer than Rainbow Dash?” Dinky was excited because she still remembered all the cool stories Rainbow Dash had had about her travels and her friends. The last time any of the ponies had seen the polychromatic mare was two years ago before she went off to parts unknown to find herself.

“Maybe. Why don’t you ask her yourself though. She doesn’t seem like she’ll eat you up anytime soon.” Braeburn nicely ruffled the hair of the youngest crew member of the Perigee and pushed her off towards the crew quarters.

“What is Twilight doing in there?” Braeburn was curious.

***


Twilight stared at the sleeping form of Scootaloo and she began to run her hoof across the hiruko-infected leg. “Xam’d, nopony celebrated your creation and upbringing,”

Twilight glanced up at her ceiling which had three gashes, like claw marks, running towards the door. She remembered the mare that had given her room that special decoration and she realized how long it had been since she had seen her.

“How is it that you can think...you can think you want friendship and life. Rainbow Dash, I wonder where you are right now. My first friend...”

***


Ponyville lay in ruins. The pretty streets that used to house the colts and fillies in a day gone by, were now on fire and becoming more and more dangerous as the night went on. Much of what made Ponyville Ponyville, Sugarcube Corner, Carousel Boutique, and other houses, had been destroyed by the ponyform weapons that had descended upon the town. The town defense radio system told of the losses.

“The final ponyform weapon was confirmed to have self-destructed at 1830 hours. Their targets are believed to have been the military complexes and landing docks. Dead and injured currently number 286, with 96 Lunar Guards and 100 civilian casualties known at this time.”

Sweetie Belle sat in the makeshift hospital that had been created as swiftly as possible when the attack had subsided. The radio continued to blare bad news. She just became numb to the names that kept repeating over and over.

“The Celestial government says that they were not responsible for the attack. It is rumored that it might have been caused by the splinter group led by Princess Celestia, who hasn’t been seen for almost a decade. Our previous leader, Princess Luna, has also not been seen since that time as well. This has been the New Lunar Republic station MOON reporting on the damage in Ponyville.”

Applebloom sat down near her shell-shocked friend. “Rarity’s alright. Your father is bringing her over to see you. Here you go,” Applebloom pulled out an apple. “from our bet, I know it isn’t a milkshake or anything like that but...”

“Thanks, Bloom.”

“I guess this means our karate club is off for this Sunday.” Applebloom tried to find something that her friend might find humorous or at least much happier than her current thoughts and feelings.

“Bloom, I failed Scootaloo and let her down.”

“I told her to stop but she got on the bus anyway. It is not your fault at all.” Applebloom absentmindedly rubbed her hurt leg. 

“You don’t get it. She is not dead. I didn’t keep my Pinkie Promise to Pinkie Pie. I told her I would keep an eye on her and look at what happened.”

***


Pinkie Pie walked dejectedly to Fluttershy’s clinic. Her hair was no longer poofy and her demeanor was cold and distant as if she had been hit by the cold freight train of reality. She turned and stared at the last bastion of sanity that she held. Her silly Fluttershy and her kind demeanor might be the only things left.

***


“She’s just suffering from shock. Keep an eye on her and tell me if she wakes up.” Fluttershy gazed over her domain of beds and animal dens, her subjects both equine and otherwise.

“Dr. Fluttershy, give yourself a break. You’ve been working since this morning.” Carrot Top said carefully as to not wake the other patients.”Here’s a carrot for your thoughts.”

“Why are you all here anyway?”

“Its a three hour wait at the hospital and once they get to you, you might be dead from blood loss or magical exhaustion. That’s why all these ponies are coming to you, you are a kind mare and we all appreciate the things that you do.”

***


Fluttershy heard the clinic door open and close. “Is that you, Scootaloo? How was your day? Are you hurt from those ponyform weapons that everypony said attacked the town?” Fluttershy peeked her head out and froze.

“Pinkie?” The mare was sitting on the floor staring off into space. Fluttershy knew that when her wife got into this state it was because something really bad happened to somepony.

“You sure keep busy, Fluttershy. I haven’t seen so many ponies give you their business in quite a long time.” She laughed hollowly, all mirth had disappeared from her demeanor.

“So you’ve come to talk.” Fluttershy was worried about what exactly Pinkie was going to talk about. Even after living with her for years, sometimes Pinkie still surprised her.

“Scootaloo didn’t come home. I checked the schools, the shelters...” Fluttershy was in shock. Ponyform weapons were made from very specific ingredients, and she only knew because she had been part of the Battle for Cloudsdale. If she hadn’t come home...

“The guards? What about the guards!” The yellow mare tried to figure if there was anywhere Scootaloo might hide with her friends. Scootaloo being in the Everfree Forest, even at this hour, would be a better relief for Fluttershy than the fear of her daughter becoming a missing pony.

“The magical lines aren’t working! They haven’t since this morning!” Pinkie yelled at her worried wife. Her reality continued to slip because Fluttershy was supposed to be the logical one out of their relationship and her Butterfly was acting as if she had a major secret that was clouding her judgement.

“No, this can’t be happening...” Fluttershy was almost at her breaking point.

“Doctor, my son needs help...”

“I’m coming!” Fluttershy was nearly hyperventilating in fear for her daughter, but she had to be calm for her patients. A doctor of her caliber was not supposed to show that there might be something wrong with them.

“What about your own family? What about us?” Pinkie glumly asked.

“What are you trying to say?” Fluttershy tried to stay calm. If Pinkie was saying what Fluttershy thought she would...

“I can’t believe you didn’t wonder where she went.”

“Would it have actually made any difference?” The yellow pegasus was defensive. She knew that she cared for her daughter, she just had to also work on the ponies of Ponyville. She was only one mare.

“How can you always say that?” Pinkie was flabbergasted with how coldly Fluttershy sounded to her.

“Our daughter may be lying under a building dying and you say that it doesn’t make a difference? I, for one, am going to look for our daughter. Goodnight, Fluttershy.” Pinkie slammed the door in anger and quickly ran away from the cottage before Fluttershy could explain herself. 

“Come back, please...I’m sorry.” Fluttershy felt tears creeping into her vision and she felt helpless for what she knew was coming. Tears flowed freely from the mare as she realized that her focus in her life was not kind to her family life.

***


A Celestial controller of a ponyform weapon realized that he was going to die either way, so he took the honorable way out.

“As I give up my life I hope that it brings me closer,”

He took out the small bomb that he had been carrying for a time like this. Rule 1 was that if you were to be captured by the Lunar Republic, you would turn your body into a bomb and take as many as you could with you.

“to the true hiruko...”

The bomb exploded and he was taken to the fields of paradise.

***


In Lunar Headquarters, two mares walked side by side. One was speaking with a refined accent that spoke of days gone by in the highest levels of society. The other was a highly decorated soldier who was born and raised right in Ponyville. The mare was a decorated veteran of the Battle of Cloudsdale.

“Eleven pods were dropped and the death of all ponyform users was announced by Lunar Headquarters earlier in the day additionally a unknown filly was listed among the casualties of the bus explosion that occurred earlier. She is an unknown variable in our casualty lists.”

The two mares stared down at the booty that was contained in the darkest pits of the military complex. A Xam’d that was currently asleep was looking back up at them with unblinking eyes.

“It’s been ten days since the Manehattan train explosion. Ah did not think I would have to deal with more things like this. Almost looks like my mother’s grave.” The mare pulled her stetson over her eyes. Just another one of these nasty things that the scientists brew up every so often.

“Doctor Whooves is waiting below.” 

“Thank you kindly, Miss Octavia.

***


A brown earth pony with a hourglass cutie mark smiled jovially as Applejack stepped out of the elevator. His back legs were useless and so he had a yoke around his neck that was connected to his back legs with braces and wheels.

“Sorry to waste your precious time, Captain Applejack. Ah, wait. It slipped my mind that you were promoted to Commander.” The Doctor smirked the tiniest bit.

“Yep. There’s been an incident. This research laboratory will be moved to Ponyville. Including the  abomi- experiment of course.” Applejack always hated these scientists. They seemed to be the lowest form of pony. Few morals and focused on a plan of “bettering” the Equestrian landscape with their abominations of ponies twisted into shapes that took their equinity.

The lights were turned on and a Xam’d that looked more akin to Changelings than actual ponies stood at attention. It’s limbs were full of holes and its body was shaped like a spider with two faces. One large one was where the snout of the pony would be and its face had six eye holes in its mask where it was crying tears of acid. The other head was near the stomach and had small limbs of its own. Its wings were of the lightest gossamer that looked like they were unable to hold the weight of the creature connected to it.

“Doesn’t it look pitiful when you see it like this? So tell me, Professor, what exactly this thing is.”

“It looks similar to a ponyform and yet it isn’t...we call it Xam’d.”

“Is it a higher life form?” Applejack shivered when she put that sentence together. No creature that looked like it was from the fires of Tartarus should be called a higher life form. It put the whole idea of a peaceful universe into question.

“Science calls it a miracle and yet much of it is unexplained.”

“What is the purpose of our mission?”

“Yes, you know the tremendous cost in funds and in lives if the research ends in failure. We want to end the war as soon as possible and you will be a part of this valiant effort.”

“What are ya’ll trying to say you trickster.”

“You’ll be the one to blame if that does indeed happen. My own abilities are limited but Ponyville is currently on information lock down. Ponies will seek an escape from fear and anxiety. Having been born in Ponyville yourself, I think your appearance will give them that hope that they so desperately want. Give them what they want.”

“Getting a promotion from my superiors doesn’t make me an alicorn princess.”

Doctor Whooves chuckled.

“You sure have a way with words, Commander. I am going to take my leave.” He turned to leave and Applejack was worried that he wouldn’t make it back to his quarters.

“Do you need my help?”

“I’m the one who is going to be helping you,” He stopped and turned towards Applejack again. “Oh, that’s right, I think I’ve come to understand how she feels.”

“What the hay you talking about?” The farm pony was confused. He wasn’t speaking a lick of sense. There was nopony else here but the two of them. Unless he thought the abominations actually had a soul to speak of.

“A mare and her foal disappeared when Xam’d was born. Xam’d looks like a mare protecting her foal, doesn’t it?” Doctor Whooves rolled down the hallway. His laughter echoed throughout the silent hallways like they were a choir from the deepest pits of Tartarus ready to slaughter the ponies who got in their way.

Applejack blanched and ran towards the nearest exit. She felt unclean. The corruption in this laboratory was unreal and she felt it enter her soul and begin changing her honest self. 

> The Way To Freedom
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sweetie Belle silently walked through Fluttershy’s quiet clinic. She couldn't sleep, not after what happened. Her mind was racing with questions. “Why did that filly blow up the train...what does this mean for me, my family, everypony in Ponyville...and why did that unicorn take Scootaloo?”

She was broken out of her worried state when she saw an open door with a green glow coming from inside the room. She crept closer and was surprised to see the white-haired filly, Sweetie thought her name was Silver Spoon or something like that, connected to strange machines that had green goo brightly shining inside them. Sweetie stood there until she heard a whisper out of the patient.

“She’s alive. Your Xam’d is alive.”

***


“Let me get this straight, the filly from earlier died and all you could determine was that she was a believer of Harmony...”

Caramel stood nervously. The glare of one of his superiors in Lunar Command made him feel like a colt again. A colt that was going to be punished because he had done everything wrong. “Yes Sir we did everything we could but-”

“The townsponies have a high opinion of you and we are also evaluating the police efforts but the truth is that we have a situation. The ponyform weapons dropped involved six child soldiers and two lifeforms known as Xam’d. They can’t deal with this without the support of the Lunar Guard. Commander Applejack-”

Applejack had been tapping a hoof vigorously against the ground. She never did like meetings; they reminded her of days long gone where her family had not been touched by war and had crumbled into separate ponies with different goals. Applejack looked up and tried her best to look interested. “Yep?”

“We are going to put you in charge of Ponyville. Caramel, you do know of Applejack right?”

“I know her very well, sir, a decorated hero of the Battle of Cloudsdale ten years ago.”

Caramel’s mouth twitched, for he also knew her from before the war as a friendly mare who helped get him his job in Sweet Apple Acres. As the years passed, he saw the Acres become more and more insular after Big Mac’s disappearance. Applejack’s compassion died that day as well as the heart of many an Apple Family member. Her demeanor became cold and she joined the Lunar Guards.

“Y’all are way too kind. I jus’ made it through...the ones who should be celebrated are the ponies who died facing the earliest ponyform weapons. But, however I survived, I’ll give this here life to see my mission through.” 

Caramel saluted her warily. Applejack trotted up to him and coldly placed a hoof on his shoulder. Caramel tried his hardest not to flinch from the unexpected contact. 

“You must not hate yourself...this is the way of the Lunar Guard.” The orange mare smirked.

***


Soarin’ calmly answered the prying call of the nearby Celestial police ships. This was a common occurrence, but it usually didn’t cause any major problems. “This is the Lunar ship Perigee. We are sending identification now.”

Braeburn groaned. “Are ya serious? Another Celestial patrol?”

“We need to be ready. Wake up Luna.”

Braeburn was stubborn and he didn’t move from his seat. “Nope. I know what she’s gonna say. She’ll say ‘Ta-’

“Take the shortest route.” Luna’s voice came over the magical radio lines.

“Uh. Princess...”

“Braeburn, how would you like to be captain from now on?” Luna’s voice was calm. “And you do all the hard work making sure that all these ponies on this ship are safe, have food to eat, and are payed enough for me to keep a profit without a mutiny on my hands. And that’s just the monthly worries.”

“No thanks, ma’am.” Braeburn was blushing. He had never thought of running the ship being that difficult. He shut his mouth and turned back to his console.

“Luna, the ships are police ships.” Soarin’ was already ready for anything that the Lunar Princess was going to say.

“What’s our next landing spot?”

“Manehattan”

“Right, we don’t have time. Go ahead and pass them.” Luna sighed. It was just another day. How she missed her sister and the Equestria that she wanted.

“You ask too much of me. We need a few more ponies to be able to dodge those ships.. Wake up the kid and make her help.”

***


Twilight poured a glass of tea and handed it to Scootaloo. Scootaloo sniffed the brew and scrunched her face because of the unpleasant smell.

“This is spirit tea. Don’t drink it all at once. It will calm the hiruko.”

“Thanks but no thanks. I’m totally fine. I think you’re making too big of a deal about this.I don’t have any broken bones or anything...” Scootaloo attempted to touch the bandages to show how well she felt and try to get out of drinking that stuff.

“Don’t touch it. That magical needle is keeping you alive. It keeps you unaware of your Xam’d form.”

“Thanks for watching over me. My mom would be impressed.” Scootaloo hopped off the chair and tried to walk out of the door. Scootaloo tried to play off the pain and poked the bandages. Twilight batted away Scootaloo’s prying hoof from the bandaged leg.

“Look here, Twilight.  You got the wrong pony. I am not this Xam’d or whatever crazy thing you think I am.” Scootaloo was getting annoyed by this purple mare’s treatment of her. A knock distracted the two from their bickering.

“Come in.”

“Hey the captain wants to see y’all right now.” Braeburn stared uneasily at the scene before him: Twilight was grimacing at that orange filly and the filly was rolling her eyes in anger.

“I understand. Scootaloo, don’t do anything that might blow up the ship. And that includes not touching anything in my room.”

“Yeah, yeah. Go on and meet this captain of yours.”

Braeburn closed the door behind Twilight and quickly asked what was wrong with that filly.“Are ya sure that filly’s okay?”

“She won’t turn to stone anytime soon but she doesn’t remember what happened in Ponyville.”

“Oh can you take breakfast to the Princess?”

“Really, Braeburn? I thought that was your job.” Twilight looked at him with a tired look on her face.

“She’s kinda mad at me.”

“Then you take care of Scootaloo.”

Scootaloo stared up at the gashes on Twilight’s ceiling. “Who or what caused that...I wouldn’t want to meet that thing.” Scootaloo was too busy to dodge some saddlebags which caused her to tumble off the bed and stare confusedly up at the pony who caused it. A grinning stallion wearing a tacky cowboy hat.

“Here’s some saddlebags. So tell me, kid, what makes ya tick?”

***


Sweetie sat in the waiting room of the Ponyville Military Hospital (formerly Ponyville General) waiting for the test results of her examination. Her sister placed a hoof gently around the filly. Rarity had just lost Carousel Boutique because of that ponyform weapon and had nothing much to her name now. She had bags under her eyes because of the late night spent trying to salvage anything from her destroyed business.“Sweetie...dad started crying when you didn’t appear right away after the attack.”

Sweetie put on her her best face for her older sister.“Rarity, I’m back home now and that’s all that matters.”

“Don’t you remember what happened with mother?”

“Yeah.” She remembered the sounds and the feelings of that hospital visit. “Sweetie we have some news about your mother...”

“But he forgets that we both carry the name of Belle and we are both stronger than he thinks. All because of that...” Rarity glanced at her younger sister who hadn’t said much since they had entered the hospital.

“Weird...I feel like we’ve had a conversation like this before.” Rarity was going to ask what she meant, but Magnum entered the room and walked over to them. Rarity noticed that he was still wearing those tacky clothes.

“Rarity, Sweetie Belle, thanks for waiting here.”

“Dad, I’m sorry that I made you worry.” Sweetie Belle hugged her dad.

“Sweetie, the doctors here just want to make sure there weren’t any ill effects from that strange ponyform weapon touching you.”

“Yeah but I’m so bored. Wait! Did anypony know about that white-haired filly?”

“Sorry I forgot to ask.”

“Don’t worry.” Sweetie tried to keep her calm. The filly caused the train explosion and when she asked, nopony knew of her.

“Did you know her?”

“Not really.” Sweetie kicked a hoof and tried to change the subject.

“Idea! I, Rarity will help you on your search for this mysterious mare. It is only fair because of how great a big sister I am.”

“Rarity, its fine. Just worry about rebuilding Carousel Boutique.”

Rarity stopped her idea and noticed a yellow pegasus sitting dejectedly in the far side of the waiting room.“Hey wait isn’t that Fluttershy?” Sweetie trotted over to the pegasus.

“Doctor Fluttershy...” 

“Hmm...Sweetie I’m glad you’re alright” Fluttershy looked like she hadn’t slept in days and her man was frazzled to no end. Her wings were bandaged tightly against her sides and she was limping when they approached her.

“What are you doing here. Don’t you have to work in your clinic today?”

“Yeah but I’ve been traveling to all the hospitals I know just trying to find Scootaloo. I can’t seem to find her. Have you seen her anywhere?” Fluttershy began to pace around nervously and stared at Sweetie with a crazy look in her eyes.

***


Here’s your food Scootaloo.” Derpy, Scootaloo, Dinky,and Braeburn sat around the dinner table in the Perigee and everypony was digging into the food that Derpy had prepared.

“Thanks so much, Derpy. I’m starving.” Scootaloo had not eaten anything since she had left Ponyville and was ready to chow down on all the tasty looking food that surrounded her.

“What’s with your arm? Did you get attacked by a zombie?” Dinky tried to ask at sweetly as possible, but Scootaloo flinched at the smaller filly’s assumption.

“Dinky...it isn’t nice to make assumptions on what happened to Scootaloo. You just need to know that Twilight has her condition all under control. Now sit down next to her and don’t talk at the table.”

“We thank y’all fer this food and company. Amen.” Scootaloo was surprised. She hadn’t heard a prayer at her meals since she was a very small foal. They had been outlawed under the Lunar Republic as vestiges of a united Equestria that became a more and more distant memory as the years passed. “What’s with the prayer?”

“Scootaloo, you have to learn the manners of United Harmony. It’s kind of important to know when working here.” Derpy smiled at Scootaloo while explaining the reason.

“I thought that strain of belief got wiped out after the Princesses split the kingdom.”

“Nope. Harmony might have become less important but the beliefs still exist.”

“And once yer done eating I’ll show ya the ropes to your work.” Braeburn glanced up at Scootaloo who was eating her food with reckless abandon.

“Work?” Scootaloo stopped eating and stared right back at the stallion.

“Didn’t the captain tell you? We get most of our income now from the mail service. We’re all postal workers. Ya might get used to it in six moons or so.”

“Six moons!”

***


Scootaloo and Braeburn stood in the cockpit of the Perigee. Braeburn was excitedly speaking to Soarin’ who only listened to the stallion because he had nothing better to do.

“Wanna make a bet? How long will this here kid stay? The whole time or a bit less?” Scootaloo was becoming annoyed by the yellow stallion and tried to talk to the blue one.

“Nice to meet you.”

Soarin’ didn’t acknowledge the filly standing only a few feet away from him and continued speaking to Braeburn.“I don’t know. The bet seems foolish to me. I also had doubts about her beating that ponyform weapon too.”

“Wait. One, I have no idea where I am and two, I never said I wanted to work here.” Scootaloo couldn’t hold in her anger anymore and spoke up to the blue stallion.

Soarin’ lifted an eyebrow and looked down calmly at the orange filly.“So you want a free ride.”

“No, but I have to get back to Ponyville.”

“Sorry, the captain said no.” Braeburn frowned at Scootaloo. He thought that the filly just get the predicament that she was currently in.

“But-”

:The captain has royal authority on this issue.”

“Take the new recruit to her, Braeburn.Our Night Princess with a dark past. Our dear captain.”

“Thank you for your help.” Scootaloo stomped out of the cockpit and tried to think of a time where her life actually made sense.

***


“Excuse me? You want to do what exactly? How many times is this now, and every time you Pinkie Pie promise it is the last time...oh well, I’m still rusty. Say something, Twilight, entertain me and you might be lucky.”

Twilight stood in Luna’s chambers and tried to make the captain see reason. Luna just looked bored. Luna was lazily twirling a book in her magic and waited for the purple mare to say anything of actual importance.

“She’s a Xam’d captain...if we let her go-”

“I know all the science behind it, however; you are asking me to put all our well-being at risk because of one pony. We can only do so much. In the end she’ll turn to stone. One rule that I learned in all my years: mares should be careful with their feelings...because if you let them get away from you, they cause things that you would regret later.” Luna stared out the nearby window and sighed.

***


“Wait a minute. Here take these to the storage warehouse.” Scootaloo was walking through the ship trying to cool down after her outburst when a unicorn started yelling at her to slow down and carry something. Scootaloo turned and was run over by that unicorn who dropped her load and passed it to Scootaloo.

“What warehouse?” Scootaloo yelled back to the disappearing mare who ran back further into the ship. She then noticed a white rabbit running towards the mare. “Angel, what are you doing here?”

“Oh so it was you?” The light purple mare stopped and turned towards Scootaloo. Braeburn trotted down the hallway and stopped when he found the filly he was looking for.

“Her name’s Scootaloo.What are you doing? Set that down and I’ll take care of that.”

“O-ok B-braeburn.” Scootaloo grunted and tried to drop the box of goods as carefully as possible. The mare spoke up and spoke slowly to Scootaloo.

“Angel’s pretty smart. Got him in Ponyville, same as you. But he’s definitely treated better than you.”

“I only hope to be treated the same as a spoiled rabbit.” 

“Jerk.” The mare turned away and trotted off towards the sleeping quarters.

“Whatever. I want to go home.”

“Well then you just have to climb up that ladder and introduce yourself to the captain before you start work in the mail room.” Braeburn pointed up to the nearby ladder that led to the higher levels of the ship.

***


Scootaloo looked around at the mess that the engine room was. Empty boxes and spare parts littered the floor and a green mare wiped the grease from her face and glanced over at the new ponies that entered her domain. Braeburn coughed because of the dust that littered the air and tried to speak as loud as he could to be heard over the whirring engines.

“Hey Lyra, I’d like to show you the Xam’d Twilight dragged here from Ponyville. I’ve been showing her the ropes.”

“I’m fine by myself.” Scootaloo bristled at the mention of her name. Scootaloo turned towards Lyra and tried to tell her exactly how she felt.“Look here miss. I’m sorry but I won’t work in this trash heap.”

“Well, well, well, I haven’t seen a pony in a while that is so stubborn in their ways. I have one thing to say to you. Work leads to freedom here on this ship...and don’t you forget it.” Lyra began to whistle happily and turned back to her work.

“Surrounded by crazy ponies...”

“Here’s where we part, partner...hope you get that snake out of your saddlebags.”

***


Scootaloo stared out at the passing landscape. The clouds passed by calmly as they always did in Ponyville and she missed her friends. It had only been a day since she left and she was already feeling homesick. “I wonder how Applebloom and Sweetie Belle are taking my disappearance. And my moms...”

“Hey, Scootaloo...y’all better know how to fly cause if you jump from this height, you’re gonna hit the ground hard enough to produce a sonic boom. Or at least a mark on the landscape.” Scootaloo slowly looked to her side at Braeburn who had crept up on her.

“Sweetie... Hey Braeburn. where’s Ponyville?”

“It’s outta sight now. We’re already over the Celestial area of the former nation of our beautiful Equestria. Y’all can’t tell? Prolly cause there are no dividing lines on the world. They’re only drawn by greedy ponies that don’t get the notion that hard work is better than a lazy day in their little bureaucratic hidey holes waiting for the end of the world...”

“Uh, yeah.” A door opened and Twilight walked out and was surprised to see Scootaloo outside on the deck.

“Scootaloo? What are you doing here? Braeburn...I told you to make sure that she wouldn’t be a bother.” She angrily trotted up to Braeburn and grimaced at him.

“I couldn't help it. She wouldn’t listen to reason.”

“Where’s the captain? Is she inside?” Scootaloo was ready to leave the ship any way possible. Explaining herself to the captain be the quickest way off the ship.

“Go introduce yourself properly. If you are going to live here you need to learn how to swallow your pride.” Scootaloo cantered toward the closed door and reached for the door with a hoof, but before she could react an alicorn the color of the night sky walked out of her chambers.

“Alicorn?” Scootaloo was shocked. She knew of Celestia, who still ruled the nation of the Celestial Empire, but she had never seen the sister. Princess Luna had abdicated the throne of the Lunar Empire and a Republic was put in her place. She had disappeared off the face of Equestria since the end of the war.

“I will have you know that I am the captain of the Lunar postal ship, Princess Luna Nocturna Solis, and who are you?”

“The, uh, raven-haired Princess of the Night...I am going back to Ponyville.” Scootaloo stammered and tried to bow to show that she held the Princess in high esteem.

“What in Tartarus are you doing?” Twilight harshly whispered at her foolish action.

“I am grateful for your help with my condition but I can’t stay. I have a family.I can wait until the next harbor or port, but please let me off there.”

Princess Luna picked up Scootaloo with her blue aura and tossed her towards Braeburn who deftly caught the filly before she flew off the ship. Scootaloo was shocked and stared dumbfounded at the Lunar Princess who was quickly pacing back and forth.

“You would dare to get on my bad side? I don’t even know your name and you are infected by one of my sister’s creations and you think that I would be enthusiastic about you even being on my ship? Do you know how ponyform weapons are attracted to you yet...cause if you haven’t learned that yet, you will. Even that rainbow pegasus learned about the connection and did you even thank Twilight for what she did for you?  If she didn’t do what she did...you would be a statue that tells of my sister's new idea of harmony.”

“Apologize ta her majesty.”

“I am not Xam’d. My name is Scootaloo.”

***


Beep. Beep. Beep.

“Oh this isn’t good at all...” Soarin’ stared at the console  which showed a couple Celestial ships converging on their position.

***


“Thank her? I never asked her to help me in the first place!”

Luna heartily laughed at the silly filly. “Did you ponies hear this? This filly doesn’t care about being a monster again. In that case why don’t you just remove the needle. But I’m warning you one last time...I know what its like to be a monster and it is much worse than you would ever know.” Luna’s eyes flickered between the calm eyes of a pony and the cold, unfeeling eyes of a dragon. Her grin was more feral because of her new teeth that were made for a predator.

“Stop this.” Twilight stood in between the two angry ponies. She knew it was a futile pursuit because on one side she had the Princess of the Night Sky who outclassed her in magical strength by an unknown factor of power.

“I am not a monster and I am going to show it. I don’t even know why my arm is bandaged up like this!”

“You will draw the ponyforms here!”

“I don’t care. I’ve had enough with all these antics that you ponies have and I want to go back to Ponyville!” Scootaloo yanked the bandages off of her leg.

Scootaloo’s hiruko turned from blue to red. The leg, which had looked normal when it was bandaged, reacted violently after it was free. The orange lines reappeared on Scootaloo’s leg and it was quickly covered by the white goo of her transformation. Scootaloo writhed in pain as the transformation began to take hold.

“Hold your upper arm tightly and get back to my room and quickly as possible!”

Bwuh. Bwuh. Bwuh. The alarm for a Celestial attack rang out from the siren on the Perigee.

“Twilight, lock up your idiot.” Luna teleported into the cockpit of her ship, leaving Twilight and Scootaloo by themselves.

“It’s coming...”

***


“One ship has broken off from the patrol and it is closing in on our location quickly. Its coming from our portside aft. Three hundred lengths above.”

“They are trying to scare us into surrender...bunch of cowards, they forget that unless my sister is on that ship I have every right to blast them out of the sky for bringing that ponyform filth near my ship. Braeburn, put engines on full speed.” Luna stared out at the advancing ships.

“Yes, ma’am!” Braeburn and Soarin’ began to take evasive maneuvers. 

***


The bells of the Celestial ships told that they were ready to drop their cargo. Ding. Dong. Ding. Dong. Twilight could only watch as ponyforms were dropped towards the ship. Unlike the ponyforms that had attacked Ponyville, they were airborne because of their controllers: pegasi. The flying ponyforms were based on the dragons, their wings sparkled in the light with mana crystals and their lasers were closer to dragon fire than the void magic of the ground troops. 

In the ponyform cockpit a pegasus mare was encased by biomechanical wires that connected every sense to her flight suit. “Praise our mistress and I pray that I smite her enemies with the might of the sun.” The pegasus mare flapped her wings in her mind and the ponyform followed her mental orders. She began her rapid descent.

“What are you waiting for, Scootaloo?”

“Stay away! Just leave me alone will ya? I’ve done completely fine until now without your help. I can manage this on my own. Get lost!” Scootaloo tried to hobble away on three hooves and tried to keep her new arm off the ground.

Twilight grimaced but was shaken out of her anger when the ponyform weapon roosted on the top deck of the Perigee with a bang. A snaky tendril flew towards Scootaloo and ensnared her in its grip. A hole opened in its back and Scootaloo was thrown inside it. Once that happened the ponyform weapon flew off to complete its mission.

“Scootaloo!” Twilight ran off towards the hangar.

***

The Way To Freedom

***


Twilight gathered her things and jumped on her beat kayak. She fastened her goggles with a tug of her magic and wound up the release mechanism for her machine with her magic as well. Her kayak tumbled thought the sky before she righted it and blasted off towards the ponyform weapon, a rainbow trail following in her wake.

“It was a scouting ship, huh? Looks like it is returning towards Celestial space.”

“Horseapples. They just want to lure us into a trap. Turn off jets, lower altitude, and get us back towards Manehattan.” Luna tapped a hoof in annoyance.

“Look at that, y’all, the beat kayak is followin’ those ships.”

“Drat. Braeburn. What. Did. She Say?” Luna encased the stallion in her magic nd lifted him to her eye level.

“She said, uh, that Scootaloo was pulled into a ponyform.”

“Steady as she goes, Soarin’. Follow Twilight.”

***


Twilight pulled out some of her hair and focused her magic on the loose strands. The hair began to lengthen and twist itself into a usable rope. She attached the rope to one end of her staff and tossed into with her magic. It hit its mark and the rope became taut. The ponyform began to turn to stone immediately because of the magical properties of Twilight’s weapons. Twilight tied the other end to her beam kayak and set the magipilot. Tentatively stepping on the rope, she cantered across the chasm without looked at the very distant ground below.

After a short while of searching, she found Scootaloo’s hiruko providing a signal of how the filly was doing. Twilight pulled out three magical seals and began to do the ritual to separate Scootaloo from the ponyform weapon. Suddenly the hiruko switched from red to blue.

“Don’t fall asleep.”

Twilight was caught unawares by the tail of the ponyform weapon which slammed across her side and threw her closer towards the edge.

***


“A bet, Braeburn?” Soarin’ glanced over at the worried stallion.

“You gotta be kiddin’ me I’m not gonna bet whether Twilight makes it back or not.” Braeburn chuckled nervously.

“No, bet if Scootaloo would stay for six moons as long as Twilight supports her that much.”

***


Twilight had crawled slowly back towards Scootaloo, dodging the tail of the ponyform weapon. She finished her ritual and began to pry the hiruko stone and the pony that it was attached to out of their prison. As soon as she saw the hoof escape the ponyform, Twilight sent a bolt of magic into the beast, thereby shutting down its defenses and freeing the sleeping filly. Scootaloo was unresponsive and began to slip from Twilight’ grasp further into the ponyform weapon.

“It is not the time for you to be thinking of sleep! You are the one who said you wanted to live...you have to believe in yourself, Scootaloo!”

Scootaloo’s eyes briskly opened and the hiruko woke up again. Twilight enclosed Scootaloo in her magic and helped her to her feet. Scootaloo shakily stood at attention until the humanform began to move violently up and down, trying to shake the newly awakened pony off of its body.

“Get down. The ponyforms target you as long as the hiruko is active.” Twilight dragged Scootaloo to her beam kayak and started up the machine. The ponies shot off towards the Perigee.

***


Luna stood at the topmost level of her ship. Her eyes glowed with arcane fury and the sky began to turn from the nice and happy blue sky of her sister to the blackest void of her own night. 

“Soarin’ I have to tell you multiple times that the ‘dear old captain’ mystique I have is just a trick. I am just a pony, no, just a monster that still is haunted by her past. And now this past comes back again.” Luna blinked and her eyes were replaced with dragon-like pupils that were cold and unfeeling. Her armor that she hadn’t used for a decade came back and hugged her body like a shroud of night. Her mouth reshaped into a muzzle that contained a smile that would bring terror to her enemies.

“I call upon the star beasts. Pisces, the star fishes that dance upon the waves of the sky. Their domain in the heavens I provide as their Maiden and I call upon thee now. Lend me your strength”

The stars began to take shape into a fish that was a part of the night sky. A flying fish with scales that glinted in the sun. Its eyes were black and unfeeling and ready to pass judgement on the ponyform weapon. It was massive and it covered the sky in its power and grace. Its teeth were of the stars and they burned with a fury that incinerated anypony in their way. It swooped down quicker than the controller could react and swallowed the ponyform weapons whole. Luna was the only pony who could hear the pegasi’s screams as the soul of Celestia’s follower was sent towards Purgatory.

Luna sighed and called off the Pisces and walked slowly towards her room. “I know Celestia felt that loss and I hope she realizes that I only wish that this bloodshed would stop.”

Scootaloo watched the Lunar Princess carefully. The legendary Zodiac star beasts had only been legend until the return of Luna ten years ago and the beginning of the war. Seeing one of them firsthand was an event in and of itself. “So that’s  why Nightmare Moon was so feared as a general in the Legitimacy War.”

***


“That girl said back then; she told me that all this was going to be okay. That white haired filly made me this way. Why’d she do it?” Scootaloo gripped a cup of spirit tea in her hooves and looked toward Twilight.

“I have no idea but you should keep thinking anyway. Your thought will begin to tell you the purpose of the hiruko. Don’t consider this to be just a fluke anymore.”

“Twilight, I have to say thanks for saving my life. You haven’t just done it once, but twice and for that I thank you.”

“That’s enough of that. Training begins tomorrow so get a good night’s sleep.” Twilight hid her smile as she walked away from the orange filly.

“This tea is nasty!” Scootaloo took the words of Twilight to heart. “Purpose, huh, kinda like a cutie mark...”

***


“Isn’t it awful gathering all the items of the dead. Even though she’s not dead.I’m so sorry you have to see me like this, but I can’t always laugh all my problems away. And that hurts my job as Ponyville’s number one party pony...even if nopony wants a party anymore.” Pinkie’s laugh rang hollow through Sugarcube Corner. Sweetie sadly looked at the husk of the pink pony.

“I- I just came here to tell you one important thing, Pinkie, Scootaloo is still alive somewhere. I am completely sure of it. I just know it...”:

“I believe you. I can’t believe she’s dead, Scootaloo is too resilient for her to just die from a giant monster attack. We’ve had so many in the years after Princess Luna returned and disappeared again that I’d think she could do anything. You must think I’m being too silly even for me.”

Sweetie looked at the only thing that was recovered from Scootaloo’s disappearance. The armband that told ponies that she was of the Ponyville school system. “Could I take this armband? If you don’t mind I like to return it to her personally.”

“Thanks, Sweetie.”

“Thanks for having me, but I’ve got to get going to my dad’s. He’s currently living in Ponyville while the Boutique is being rebuilt.”

“Ok...Scootaloo’s a real blockhead sometimes . She makes me worry half to death with her sheer power of her dreams.”

“Fluttershy said the exact same thing when I met her earlier today. when she was looking for your daughter. I’ll come back later to check on you.”

Pinkie laughed. “Oh Fluttershy, you silly butterfly.”

***


Fluttershy dug around her closet for what she was looking for. Slowly she tunneled through her happy memories of flight camp and friendships gained there, Cloudsdale and her family, the birth of Scootaloo, everything that brought sunshine and rainbows to her life was at the front of her closet. The knickknacks and photos were bright and free of dust.

What she was looking for was another type of memory. The dark ones, the ones of war, battle, disease, and coincidentally her first few years as a doctor. The photos back here were dark and dismal affairs of her unit of doctors in medical wards and experiments of inequine treatments. The box that held the memories was covered in cobwebs and hadn’t been opened since she put it back there ten long years ago. Memories came unbidden. Flashes of light and pained whinnies of ponies living their final breaths becoming abominations that should never have existed.

“Brings back memories. Cloudsdale, I thought I’d feel ashamed about it but now the memories of service and patriotism...hmm...” Fluttershy found the bag that she was looking for and shook out its contents: a dried ututu seed. “ponyforms and these ridiculous things again.”

***


“You’ll wear your new uniform in your hometown...why wouldn’t you just wear a new hat? Remember what the Lunar Republic officials told you.” Octavia shook her head warily at the silly pony that was her Commander.

“This here report is very detailed.” Applejack slowly looked up at Octavia.

“You could have just worn a new hat and not this new uniform with your old hat...”

“My little old hat has been lucky since the Battle of Cloudsdale. The truth is that I am worried that the ponies will remember me as an  Apple Family member and not as a Commander in the Lunar Command.”

“Is that so, I’ve heard that your family was well-respected...”

“That was a decade ago now my family is just another casualty of war. I think my sister’s still in Ponyville living in the remains of Sweet Apple Acres, I know I left enough money to leave her with a comfortable life for as long as she lives. And now I have to interfere with her life again. I believe that Ponyville might just have to fend for itself in the coming war while my sister and I try to restart our family ways.”

“But the mission objectives...”

“Talk to me later.”

***


Applejack looked up at the construction that was being completed in the military bunker that was underneath the entire town of Ponyville.“I think I finally understand now why my life was spared by that doctor that day ten years ago.”

“You’ll find this interesting...the report on the train explosion. One filly was reported missing on the train. The only daughter of a doctor who served at Cloudsdale. Scootaloo Braveheart.”

Applejack’s eyes widened as she recognized the name. A name that had gone into hiding after the war. “So she’s here in Ponyville...”

The Changeling-type Xam’d was lifted into its new holding and testing facility deep underneath Ponyville. Doctor Whooves watched on in glee. The Xam’d project could go on uninterrupted in a town that needed something to believe in...

***


Luna’s moon shone down upon the Perigee and the constellation of Pisces shone a little brighter tonight. Scootaloo moved her belongings into the bunk that she was going to sleep in.

“Y’all not planning on sleeping here. You are over there.” Braeburn pointed at a lesser used bunk that looked like nopony had slept in it for a couple of years. “That rail over there is the edge of your room. Don’t disturb my sleep cause I am a very light sleeper.”

“No problem. I just wanted a blanket and I’m glad I have one now.” Scootaloo picked up her things and moved them to the older bunk. 

“Are ya nervous?”

“Nope. Nervous? Not me.”

Scootaloo stared at yet another set of gashes on the wall connected to her bed.

“I bet ya noticed that those gashes were also in Twilight’s room. The mare that stayed here before was a pony named Rainbow Dash...those saddlebags you’ve been carrying around all day used to belong to her.”

“What! Where did Rainbow Dash go?” 

“How should I know, kid? I haven’t seen her in two years...”

“Two years? That was when she said she was going to travel the world...did she get hit by one of those religious ponies and have the same thing happen to her?”

“She was also Xam’d. That mare sure went crazy. The hiruko pushed her over the edge and probably has turned her to stone by now.”

Scootaloo was going to ask more questions but Braeburn fell asleep immediately. She could only hear his snoring sounding like a train with a squeaky wheel.

“Rainbow Dash...” Scootaloo attempted to sleep but sleep eluded her throughout the night. She couldn’t sleep, not with the memories of two years ago and a awesome mare that could do anything. Sonic Rainbooms or not.
> Enlightenment
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Canterlot was a warzone. Ponies fought over the ruins of the palace, some fought for freedom, some just fought because that was all that they knew. 

A Ponyform weapon, unicorn type, lumbered through the streets, the beast like thing covered in horns that radiated mana as it swiveled its blind eyes around. It looked like it was sniffing the air, but deep within the belly of the beast, a pony stared out of it carefully tracking signs of life and, in particular, enemies. She sat in a cockpit made of artificial flesh and bone, pulsating to the rhythm of its movements and blessed by chaos. Used by those who wanted to wage war in this failed land. Sugar Belle, stared out, her eyes covered by a machine, tying her into the nervous system of the beast. She prayed to Discord, her savior, the one who's return was foretold by so many creatures. “Sorrowful memories having lost their homeland now subject to the will of the hiruko. Cry out in service to the infinite kindness of Discord. 

She noticed movement to her left, and turning to it, Sugar Belle charged up the horn, letting a small ball of mana gather around it. It glowed black and crackled with photons as she clenched her hoof around that condensed ball of death in her mind. Second spore, fire.” A beam of light shot out of the weapon and engulfed the block with blinding mana, making the night become like midday as it cut through whatever stood in its path.

“Fifth spore” Sugar Belle lumbered through the streets, letting her horns shoot lances of light toward anything that moved.

Above Canterlot, an airship sat watching the carnage. “ASP squad arrived above Canterlot. Preparing for aerial drop.” A door opened with a clank as small mobile units, machines with purpose stared up at the gathering stars. They flexed their metallic hooves, ponies connected to their wiring waiting for orders. A low buzzing echoed through the hull of the ship as their weapons powered up, the cannons connected to faux metal horns, mana running up and down those spires as the army stared at the carnage below.

"Squads one and five. You may drop now.” With that, a plethora of Lunar Republic troops charged out, their mechanical pony armor falling out of the sky.

Sugar Belle stared at the troops falling down, quickly turning her weapon on them, its fleshy exterior flexing as it turned. “Interesting." She pulled back a hoof and smiled, quickly praying to Discord for her life and powered up her horns that she was so used to. She had trained for this. "First, fourth spores."  She tried to dodge the mech suits as they dropped, their booming landings ruining more of the landscape around Canterlot. Sugar Belle groaned as the ASP squads returned fire, their mana burning her Ponyform Weapon's exterior. She silently screamed as she felt the connection between stab her in the side. A price to pay for her god. She grit her teeth as she turned to the new weapons of the Lunar Republic. She had heard of the new suits, a new model of an old battle. New mechs? How fun. Fire.” She moved her leg, ready to fire, but she was stopped as the team of pilots crash landed around her, taking out buildings as they did so. She sighed as he refocused the laser towards the nearest one, trying to aim at the lead pony's mech. Before she could, she felt a stinging pain as the APC's opened fire on her, making her laser swing off course. Sugar Belle screamed as she was blasted, sending her on a collision course with a nearby building, her spores cutting through the marble like butter.

---


Sugar Belle hid behind a pile of rubble, blood running down her leg, eyes bleary as blood dripped on her face from a head wound. She breathed slowly, trying to hide her presence as much as possible. The battle had turned badly for her. Fighting one versus a whole squad of these things, whatever they were truly, was untenable. 

“Find that pod. Capture the ponyform user alive as much as possible. Doctor Whooves wants more test subjects.”

“Yes sir.”

***


“My Lady Celestia, your humble servants are ready to be commanded.” Raven walked confidently into the lab that housed Celestia and her subjects. She fixed her glasses as she looked at the rows of foals that Celestia used, the faces of theirs beautiful in their innocence as they walked around the alicorn, her white coat a light in the semi-darkness. 

Celestia nodded at her assistant, the leader of the Celestial Guards. She got up from the small seat that she used as a makeshift throne, letting her magic place a teacup on a nearby table. Celestia beamed at the small unicorn as she walked slowly to a nearby pool. “You need to go and please return this stone of harmony. For your sake as well as mine.” Celestia floated over a large jewel, the green stone brimming with life as she looked at her small, but dedicated following.

“We hear and obey.”

***


“Let’s go. Heave!” Soarin' and Braeburn lifted a package of mail over the hatch of the Perigee. Scootaloo lazily watched, tracing her bandages with a hoof as she felt the rod that Twilight jammed into her hoof. She had blacked out when Twilight had done that, but she only felt her stone, her hiruko, pulsate with life every once in a while, the wards and magic keeping it docile for a time. 

“One. Two. Three.” With a nod, the two stallions dropped the package out of the ship, the winds taking the heavy parcel on a trip of its own. With a flutter of fabric, the parachute that Braeburn had attached opened, its billowing sails veering the package towards Hollow Shades.

“Hey, Twilight, we finished unloading the deliveries for Hollow Shades.” Braeburn grinned as he picked up his hat from a nearby bench.

“Is breakfast ready yet.” Soarin' grumbled, his stomach rumbling with his desire for pie. "I'm starving." The pegasus ran a hoof through his hair, quietly talking to himself as he shuffled a deck of cards.

“Yes, Derpy’s getting ready to call you in. Probably will be a few minutes. Where’s Scootaloo? Dinky said she was here.” Twilight looked up, her horn glimmering with mana as she turned a page in a book, quickly jotting down a note in a nearby notebook as she spoke,

Ya mean Miss Sleepyhead?" Braeburn chuckled.  "She couldn’t handle the heavy liftin' what with her arm, so she's over there takin' a nap.”

Twilight set her book aside and nodded. "Well we can't miss our appointment. Zecora hated when Dash missed her first bit of training." Twilight sighed as she saw Scootaloo snore away, her hair in a mess. Deciding quickly what to do, the purple unicorn kicked Scootaloo softly in the side.“Wake up.” 

“Sweetie! Run!” Scootaloo jumped up, groggy, but mostly alert as she scrambled around the floor for a moment, confused as to why she wasn't in Ponyville. Wasn't on the brink of death. "Oh." The small pegasus sat back for a moment and looked up at Twilight who sat there unamused. "What?"

“Ok, I win.” Soarin' placed down his cards. "Read 'em and weep."

“Wha-” Braeburn looked at his cards, back at Soarin's and slumped in his chair. "You are way too good at this."

“Twenty-one. That’s another month’s pay from you Braeburn.”

“Soarin’ you are killing me."

"I keep telling you that you shouldn't make promises your ass can't catch. . ."

“Are you awake now? We’re going to see Zecora. For your X’amd training.” Twilight briefly smiled. "Don't freak out."

***


“Hurry up!” Twilight yelled, quickly shifting boxes out of the way as she guided Scootaloo deep into the heart of the ship. Wires hung like cobwebs as the pair took a ladder down another half level, the rungs slight with rust. 

“You sure there are rooms down here?” Scootaloo cringed as she saw a particularly large rat scurry along. She picked her hooves up, her wings buzzing as she tried to hop along the hallway. She kept an eye on her hooves to make sure she didn't step on any big and scurrying things. Sweetie would hate it here for that reason. 

“Zecora likes being alone. She’s a shaman so don't say anything that you will regret.” Twilight whispered as she let mana from her horn light her way. "Come on."

“It’s just that I’m not so good with all this spiritual junk.” Scootaloo remembered too well her time in school. She had barely paid attention to the wider world past the limits of Ponyville. "Mom said a lot of non ponies were evil enchanters."

Twilight sighed. "There's so much wrong with that statement that I'd rather not even start with it. Zecora's absolutely fine." The purple unicorn blinked as she got to the end of the hallway, the clanking of the ship audible from this deep interior room. "One moment. You might want to hold your breath for a moment." Twilight gripped the door handle and before Scootaloo could ask what she meant, a miasma of green fog spilled into the hallway. "She's probably communing with spirits now." Twilight cupped her hooves together and yelled into the smoke filled room. "Zecora, I brought you the Xam’d!”

“Hello?” Scootaloo walked cautiously into the dark room, unsure of what this zebra was going to do to her. Pinkie had filled her head with stories, some probably made up, about all the things that zebras did. She just hoped that she wouldn't be cursed at all.

Zecora stepped out of the darkness, her eyes slightly glowing as she stared at Scootaloo. “Fate has intertwined you with that stone. Therefore you worry that you will stay alone. Despite this, you still wish to live?”

“Yes. Isn’t there some way to get this hiruko thing out of me? I mean I guess its cool and all, but I'd rather be normal and not worry about turning into a monster.” Scootaloo scratched absentmindedly at the stone, her arm hurting as she did so. 

“The only one who could do that is the horse of the sun. Though I doubt that could be done.” The zebra shrugged and fished out a potion, carefully inspecting its contents. 

“Isn't she dead. At least that's what I heard in Ponyville once. Though I also heard she wasn't dead." 

Twilight stretched and flipped through her book. “She’s not been seen outside the Celestial Empire for almost a decade.” The purple unicorn shrugged. "If she was dead, Luna would know. But she hasn't mentioned it." 

Scootaloo's ears perked up at that. "So its still possible right. That just means that I have to find Celestia."

Zecora hummed slowly to herself, passing a hoof over the potion. "Fish swim within the sea, but what you seek is not what you'll be. Tell me what your stone desires, but do not wait for you will expire."

Scootaloo ran the sentence in her head to try and understand whatever that meant. She shook her head in frustration as she got stuck. Poetry wasn't her strong suit. “Tell you? But I don’t know anything-”

"Your heart is like a bird. So discover yourself and find your heart's word." Zecora set down the potion, smiling as she did so and picked up a tea pot, carefully pouring tea for herself as she watched the pegasus- so like the last one- decipher her words. 

"How could I know? All I thought I wanted was a cutie mark. Not this." Scootaloo sighed and flailed her hooves about, generally pointing to the world around her. The cramped, dark room. The Perigee itself. Her hoof. Losing all her friends.

"Listen closely to the stone and you will find you are never alone. Now Crystal Heart." Zecora turned her gaze on Twilight.

"Zecora. Twilight closed her book and nodded at the slightly older zebra.

"You can begin the test. For it seems this X'amd decrees that is best." 

***


"Canterlot's under siege. Let's take the 37th line to get around that." Derpy pointed at a map of Equestria, slowly tracing the route of the Perigee as she talked. "Else we could go south, deliver stuff to Klugetown first." 

Luna turned to the grey pegasus and sighed, her hair fluttering in a nonexistent wind. "This is a postal ship. Quick, safe deliveries is what we are known for and how we get paid."

"I know that but the Lunar Republic's restrictions are so much more difficult to circumvent." Derpy sighed. "I mean the last time we complied with their rules, we spent a month in dock. Which cost us a lot of the mail contracts." Derpy scratched her head in thought and leaned back as she stared at the alicorn.

"I was too lenient when I returned. The enemies of my enemies. . ." Luna stared out at the moving clouds, slowly tracing a cloud that looked like a chariot. She wished it had been easier. If she had talked to her sister about co ruling without all the drama her return caused. The aristocrats falling in on themselves, cannibalizing each side into a raucous war driven mess. 

"There's no difference between the Celestials and the Lunarian army. But there's Irondeer to the north. Swing off northward, save some time, but be still slightly late." Derpy tapped on the map and glanced at her captain, hoping that that compromise was a success.

"If only we could ship off Scootaloo that easily." Luna shrugged.

"She's just a foal."

"If she was just a foal we'd be fine." Luna turned away for a moment, checking if Soarin' still had his eyes on the destination. 
Harmony decreed that she isn''t a child." Luna stared up at the moon for a brief moment and let her hoof tap gently on her hoofrest of her chair. "Soarin' please go towards Irondeer, then swing south. Hopefully then we can get these packages delivered on time."

Derpy picked up the map and rolled it up, careful to not wrinkle it as she did so."It would have been easier to have Dinky become a X'amd instead of Scootaloo. I'd be at least sort of proud of her- being her mother and all."

"How selfish of you. I mean I've spent years watching all this unfold. And I can confidently say that you wouldn't." Luna picked up her coffee and sipped it slowly, the dark roast keeping her awake during the day. "Unless you like having children fight battles they are woefully unprepared for."

"I'd be proud about it." Derpy frowned as she sat back down in her seat.

Luna scoffed and pulled out a cigarette, slowly passing it in front of her face with her magic. "Do you mind if I-"

Derpy frowned. "No, and I don't care if you are immortal or not. Most of us don't have that luxury. No smoking on the ship."

***


"100!" Dinky and Amethyst Star cheered as Scootaloo threw the stamp to the ground, her hoof aching as she stared at the pile of mail, sorted by location, date, and postage.

"3 minutes, 18 seconds. Not bad!" Amethyst Star grinned as she floated over the watch, carefully checking the time and writing it down on a piece of paper. "Good, but not good enough."

"3 minutes is a right difficult thing ta beat." Braeburn grumbled as he looked at the pile and tapped his hoof in frustration. "An' anyway, I thought that Scoot here had some trainin'. How'd I'd think she'd not beat Dash's time? She's a pegasus ain't she?"

"Braeburn, you agreed." Amethyst grinned as she pulled out a nicely written form with Braeburn's signature clearly on display. "Can't help it that you have a gambling problem. Cleaning duty it is." 

"Have fun. It was a mess last time I checked." Dinky nodded as she ran off.

Scootaloo stared at the table. Her leg killed her and she could see Angel's annoying grin as the rabbit ate a nearby carrot. She had attempted to tell Luna that that infernal bunny had hitchhiked onto the ship when they were in Ponyville, but the alicorn said that if it came down to it, she'd chose the rabbit. Cheaper. Scootaloo sighed and scratched her bandage. She didn't know if Luna had been joking or not and she was too afraid to ask.

"No resting, Scootaloo. Keep working." Twilight put down her book, quickly marking her place with a bookmark. "Else we'll have to put off going outside and training until later."

"That's right, Scoots, guess you can show off your powers now." Braeburn leaned back in his chair, slightly miffed, as he counted out his remaining bits.

"Okay that's the first batch done. And after that you can show off your moves that Braeburn keeps mentioning." Amethyst Star rolled her eyes and stretched as she glanced at the earth pony. "Though for some reason, he's not gambling about you being competent at fighting. Which worries me."

"Guys, can I take a break for once?" Scootaloo stretched, feeling her bones shift as she did so. "My back's killing me."

"You'd get done faster if you didn't complain." Amethyst tapped her watch and set the timer. "We are running a tight ship and any slackers are to be harshly dealt with."

Braeburn grinned as he picked up his hat. "Sounds like little missy here has been listenin' to too many of them speeches that Luna makes."

"Hey, Twilight, how is this training?" Scootaloo laid her head on the table, the slight smell of parchment assailing her nose as she did so, the sounds of Braeburn and Amethyst bickering fade away as she stared at the mysterious and quiet unicorn. "I mean I've heard about it. But besides it being a thing, I don't know how it'll be."

"Hard, painful, necessary. Without it, you'll die as soon as you get out of my sight." Twilight fixed her eyes on the small pegasus, her gaze distant, but with a hint of warmth. "Going into the wider world is dangerous." 

***


"Scootaloo" Sweetie stared at the bag that Scootaloo had left. The last remnant of the pegasus, since she didn't know if Scoot was alive or dead. She felt like it was more likely that she was still out there, being cool, hiding from the Lunar army, trying to find Dash. Like she had wanted to do. But there was a part of her that worried, that just wasn't sure. No body.

"Darling, what has gotten into you?" Rarity smiled as she trotted up to her sister, hugging the filly with as much gusto as she could. "Applebloom was starting to get rather worried. Especially with how hectic and positively dreadful the last few days have been."

"Sorry, sorry, tried to get here as fast as I could. Have you been waiting long?" 

"'Bout 15 minutes." Applebloom walked up, coat partially covered in oil. "So not all that long. Rare's just being dramatic is all."

"How's AB's driving coming along?" Sweetie tried to make small talk since she still had the odd feeling of Scootaloo almost being right behind her, out of her reach. She didn't want to look because looking made the hurt feel more real. More immediate. 

"It's better than Scoot's was. Needs improvement on the parking, but she passes." Rarity beamed.

"Thanks, I think." Applebloom wiped her face with onies was starting toa towel and tossed it aside. "Hey what's got into those ponies over there?" Applebloom pointed at the edge of town where a large crowd of ponies was starting to gather.

---


"There's a lot of ponies here." Rarity put a hoof over her eyes to shield her from the sun. "I hadn't heard anything about a gathering or a celebration."

"Looks like a fireworks show or somethin'." Applebloom shrugged.

"Wow, an airship." Sweetie pointed at the descending ship, its blue coloration a dead giveaway that it was a Lunar ship. "That's so cool."

"Looks like they are forming a brigade or something. Probably help out the island."

"So yet another war." Rarity grimaced. "Goody."

"Everyone in my family is dead. All of them. Every one." A pink earth pony walked ever so slowly through the crowd, mumbling to herself as she did so. Her eyes set dead ahead on the ship, mouth pursed in anger.

"Diamond Tiara." Sweetie shivered as she noticed that Diamond was favoring her front legs. "Is she hurt? We should probably-"

Applebloom raised a hoof to stop Sweetie. "Last raid took outta tons of families. Heard something about the Riches. . .

"Hey, Diamond. . ." Sweetie pulled away from her group, carefully dodging ponies as she did so, and walked up to the shellshocked classmate of hers. "You need help? I mean AB's got a-"

Diamond turned to Sweetie, a cold dead look in her eyes. "Who are you pining over? You should forget them. Probably dead. Everyone's dead." She laughed as she walked away, limping as she did so. "Everyone dies. Everyone."

***


"Fall in. Commander, the island is fully in your command." 

Applejack groaned, unsure of which pony that was that handed her off the garrison. She had little sleep on the way over here to Ponyville due to her concerns about meeting up with ponies she had tried so hard to move past. Or forget. And here she was staring at some pony she didn't know since she didn't read the dossier about each and every pony in the town and its outskirts before coming here. Her hooves clopped down the metal stairs, the sound reverberating ever so slightly. She kept her eyes straight forward on that particular pony and made her limp as unnoticed as she could with all things considered. It hurt with the change in altitude and she couldn't really do things about it. Well she could, but it'd be to lose a leg. And she was rather proud of that doctor's work. 

I told y'all to treat me like one of your own. Nothin' more, nothin' less." Applejack nodded as she placed a hoof on this forgettable pony. "Now let's meet the people. Can't have us be takin' control of this town without a celebration." 

***


"School's gone. What do we do now." Applebloom stared out at the airship. She kicked her hooves as she stared out at the airship, the thought of seeing Applejack after years and years kind of worrying. So she breathed out and acted normal, as normal as she could in the situation. No Scootaloo. Sweetie acting morose. No school to focus on to drive away the swirling emotions that she rarely mentioned to her friends.

"Don't know." Sweetie shrugged, carefully blowing her bangs out of her eyes. "Don't care really. As long as we don't get drafted. That'd be the day." Sweetie laughed, her peals of hollow laughter not really calming the mood. The short meeting with Diamond weighed heavily on her mind, any hope of normality felt hollow and odd to her at the moment.

"Yeah. That'd be ridiculous."

***


"I still don't know. But how is meditation supposed to be training. I thought I was going to be fighting something. Anything." Scootaloo stared at the obtuse zebra. "I have spent what feels like the last couple hours just sitting here in silence." 

"The ship has moved. Therefore you have entered the groove." Zecora slowly stirred a pot of tea and smiled as she stared at the pegasus. 

"What in the hay does that mean?" Scootaloo groaned and lay back on the mat. "So stupid. "

***


"You might want to eat first." Derpy glanced over to the orange pegasus and frowned as she slid a pile of daisy sandwiches on the table. "Didn't cook a lot, but it'd help."

"Hang on, just a bit more to go." Scootaloo waved a hoof as she licked a stamp and placed it neatly on a letter. 

"Brae, can't she stop for some dinner?"

Braeburn placed his sandwich down and shook his head. "Eating isn't part of the job. She's replacing stamps on undelivered mail. Maximum postage." 

"Which is a pointless endeavor. There's always going to be more mail."

Amethyst butt in the conversation, gulping down her sandwich as fast as she could. "Usually the old timers throw them in the fire. That's quicker."

"Scootaloo, the price of the stamps will come out of your salary. Be careful." Braeburn leaned back and grabbed his sandwich, slowly relishing each bite as he glanced over the pristine and studious way that Scootaloo had sorted the mail. He almost was proud, almost. That took real effort to sort them out, and make sure each was postmarked correctly. 

"I know that, but all of these are addressed to Ponyville. They can't just be destroyed. I mean what if there was some mail that was critically important or if somepony needed it to talk to a pony they hadn't in years, or-"

Derpy grimaced and held up a wing to Scootaloo's mouth to stop her from talking. She knew the signs of a hyperactive mare cooped up in a cage. From what Dash told her about this kid, she was surprised that Scootaloo hadn't tried to commandeer the ship and fly off to find her 'hero'. Quixotic, brave, stupid. "Kids never know how to ask for help."

"I'm-"

"Let's just finish these. Together.
center]*** 


Those aboard the ship are not conscious of it's movement. Therefore, time passes as you seen new improvements."

"Done." Scootaloo stretched her wings as she leaned back on a pile of boxes, her legs shaking with effort as she did so. "Finally. Only took four hours to sort out the lost mail from the new stuff."

"Scootaloo, lift with your back. Not your wings." Soarin' entered the cargo hold with a doughnut and pointed out several flaws in the young pegasus' posture. "Else you'll tear a muscle. I thought Dash had trained you in how to lift with your wings properly. It's like step one in learning how to fly." Soarin' shook his head. "Whatever. Just don't hurt yourself, alright?"

"Soarin' you finally said my name. Yes!" Scootaloo pumped a hoof, almost falling over in the process.

"Think where is the ship going? What does the stone seek? What is it you can't live without? Tell me."

***


"Can't do it." Scootaloo sighed and tossed another balled up piece of paper into the trash. She tapped the edge of her quill in frustration, leaving small dots of ink on the table as she stared out the window. "Can't even start a letter with 'Hey'. There's just too much to explain."

"A letter to your foalish love? Was it Sweetie? Think it was. Don't be getting her filled up with your whining in that there letter." Braeburn leaned over the small pegasus' writing table, trying to bend his neck as he excitedly prodded his roommate, their shared space a mess of clothes and papers. "I can help ya. I have a ton of exes."

"Yeah right. My wing hurts too much to write anyway." Scootaloo rolled off the chair and slid to the sloor, her mind shifting to another mystery in no time flat. Twilight. She shivered as she thought of the looks Twilight gave her- the cold, dead stares. Almost sad in a way.  "No use, wish Twilight would actually like me."

Braeburn turned and tossed his old, worn out magazine into Scoots face. "Celestia's unshaven locks, you're dense. Twilight risked her damn life to save your ass and you are complaining about it." He scoffed and rolled his eyes as he pulled out a ratty photo, careful to not damage it further. 

"What are you looking at?"

Braeburn shoved the photo into his pocket and shrugged. "Something Dash left behind. So what did Zecora have to say, the gobbledy gook that she filled your head with?"

"Something that the hiruko wants."

"What does that even mean? I get the whole talk to the stone thing, in theory, cause Twilight's always blabbering on about how important those five or so stones are. Well she said there was a lost sixth, but I think she was drunk that once."

Scootaloo curled up and prepared to go to bed. " Didn't think Twilight ever drank." She shivered as the world turned white for a moment as the stone ached in her hoof, sending shockwaves into her brain. "I hate this. Keeps giving me a headache. Wish it'd tell me what it wants."

"Don't navel gaze too long. Your brain will ooze outta your head." Braeburn smiled briefly and pulled his sleeping goggles over his eyes. "Night."

***


"What happened to your enthusiasm? Get on down here now!" Lyra shunted down the ship's exterior, her horn lighting up as she fired up a few spells to let her stay on the hull much easier- better grip, decrease air flow, focus mana to her hooves. "When Soarin' said you wanted to try out engineering, I thought you were going to be more of a daredevil." Lyra flipped her hair out of her mane and picked up a wrench, careful to dodge the engine's hot components.

"This is the stupidest thing I've ever done." Scootaloo stared out at the landscape of Equestria, so far below and gulped. "I thought he meant like fix stuff on the ground." The orange pegasus slid down the ship's hull. "You need this toolbox here?" Scootaloo saw out of her peripheral vision, a slight nod. "Fine." Picking it up, she shuffled over to the side of the ship and started crawling to Lyra. She grimaced as she looked down, reality sinking in as she did so. She gulped and slid closer, her hooves slick with fear. 

She blinked and felt a tug as she dangled by a thread, her hooves shaking with worry as she saw the toolbox fall towards the earth.

"You trying to kill yourself?" Lyra facehooved as she yanked up the young pegasus. 

"Don't know. I think I slipped."

"Well if you are done being a sad sack, stay over there. I can't keep losing my tools cause ponies drop them off the ship." Lyra grumbled. "You know how expensive tools are? Everypony's making tools for war, not fixing shit."

"Sorry, but I think my heart went into my throat." Scootaloo gripped the side of the ship as her mane whipped in the wind. "How do you even do this?"

Lyra shrugged. "Don't look down then. Look up. That's what I do."

Scootaloo sighed and turned her head to the sky."What is that?" 

***


"You sure that's another postal ship?" Luna grimaced as she looked at the ship closing in on them. "Looks more like a retrofitted Lunar vessel." She sighed as she tapped on the screen, trying to see all the details of the ship.

"That's what the identicode said." Soarin' grumbled as he turned the wheel. 

"It's strange though, the readings on the altitude show that it is dropping towards us." Derpy rocked in her seat as she tried to stay calm. "I don't like this at all."

"Soarin' whatever happens, don't risk the ship. Got it?"

"Engines ready to go, Princess." Soarin' flicked his mane out of his eyes as he focused on the large target that was heading towards them. 

***


"They are firing the engines?" Lyra dodged a spurt of flame as the engines fired up, switching from neutral to full throttle. "Hold on." Lyra flung the small pegasus with a quick heave as she dropped down to the lower deck level of the Perigee, quickly gripping a rail and tying the dead weight to it. "Can't read the colors from here."

"Lyra, you saved me." Scootaloo breathed a sigh of relief as she scrambled onto deck. She barely caught her breath before she noticed something come from the corner of her eye. A purple smokescreen. "Oh my aether, what is-"

***


"That's a smoke screen. That's not good." Luna rubbed her face as she sighed. "Especially purple. Guess they want Twilight for something."

"Luna damn it, stop playing." Soarin' yelled as he banked into the smoke, trying to angle the ship up towards the sky to limit the time in the dark. "Like the other ship has a Twilight call signal."

"Soarin', patch me into Brae's quarters."

***


A metallic screech rent the air as the intercom system started up."Braeburn wake up."

Braeburn started with a scream. The stallion fell out of bed in a tumble of sheets, flailing his legs around in an attempt to call off an attack. Waiting for death, he sat there for a moment until he opened an eye in trepidation. Finding nothing, he popped his head over the bed and sighed. "Luna, I work nights, let me get some shut eye. Plus, I about had a heart attack."

"Braeburn! Not the time. Get Twilight to stay on the ship."

"Yes, Luna. I'll try." The stallion sighed as he picked himself up and dusted himself off, quietly muttering to himself that if Twilight wanted to stay on the ship, she would. If she didn't, well she was a unicorn. Like he was going to stop a determined mare in whatever bunk she's got in her head.

***


"That's a Crystal Ship, don't let Twilight go meet it." Luna's voice crackled through the hangar bay.

Braeburn turned into the hangar, taking two rungs of the ladder at a time. He huffed as he pulled himself up into the empty hangar bay. He breathed for a moment and tried to collect his thoughts and steeled himself for a right mighty tongue lashing from Luna. Twilight and the Beat Kayak were gone."'Bout that. Looks like she took the craft." Braeburn grimaced as he heard a pile of expletives come over the intercom.

***


"That pile of junk can barely fly." Lyra rolled her eyes at the Crystal Ship, the haphazard welds and different metals a patchwork of ingenuity. Though she was truly amazed it stayed in the air with the weight of the joints and the mana she could feel radiate off the thing. She could feel it leak out into the air above them as it gave her a splitting headache. Which told her whatever engineer built that thing was absolutely terrible at working in a closed system of mana.

"Twilight knows the ponies on that ship?" Scootaloo inquired, her wings outstretched as she wobbled to and fro. The wind hit her face and made it difficult to see whoever was running the ship. "Can't believe that."

"Yeah, government pawns based in the Crystal Empire, what's left of it. Cast out upon the skies."

"Doesn't that make them refugees?" Scootaloo was truly interested now since she knew vaguely of what that meant- Fluttershy had mentioned bits of what was happening outside of Ponyville, and she had tried to piece it together. Something about the war destroying a lot of places outside Equestria.

"Yeah, but they really don't have a homeland. Besides what's left. Which isn't enough to sustain ponies for long." The mint green unicorn shrugged as she talked. "They are pirates. Really bad ones, but still pirates."

***


"Cheerilee's ship is going to Griffonstone. Let me see her." Twilight stared down Luna. "It'll take a month at most."

"No." Luna was equally cold in her response, taking a measured sip of coffee after she had spoke on the matter.

"If I can meet her, I can get info on-" Twilight paced back and forth, her mind racing as she tried to speak.

"I already said no." 

"But what if they are truly from the empire? Then I can see how-"

Luna raised a hoof. "You have to stay here. I don't care if you want to know about your brother and Cadance. And my word is final." Luna's mane glittered with stars she became more agitated, her Royal Canterlot Voice almost coming out as she remembered the past. "Cadance left me to rot in a failing system once she pulled out of our agreement. Now they are just feeding off the remains of the Celestials." Luna's hoof banged on her desk, leaving a dent in the wood.  "And I definitely don't want to associate with slavers."

Twilight's cheeks flushed red with anger. "They lost everything."

Luna's eyes shifted for a moment, her welcoming dark orbs turning catlike. "Everyone's past is a pile of shit. They just sold their souls to have wealth and are just drifting like tumbleweeds in the sky." Luna blinked and her eyes shifted back. "We are done having-"

Twilight yelled at the alicorn. "Does that include me? I'm literally one of them.

Luna slapped Twilight across her face, the sound ringing out for a few seconds. The purple unicorn stumbled for a moment, her world a pile of stars as she tried to focus on Luna. The alicorn stared at her hoof and slowly put it back on the desk, her hoof flexing as she tried not replaying that singular moment over and over. 

Luna breathed, her voice cutting the tense silence. "Then you can go whenever and wherever you want. Or you can stay. I'm not your keeper."

***


Knock. Knock. Twilight heard the knocks at her door and curled into her blankets, her cheek still hurting from Luna's slap, her pride more in tatters than her cheek. And yet, she still grumbled in barely contained fury at what the alicorn had tacitly hinted at, that Twilight was just another lost pony of the skies. Groaning in annoyance as the knocking didn't stop, she picked up her hooves and stumbled towards the door, expecting Luna to be behind it. And if she was, Twilight was going to give her a piece of her mind. "Luna?"

Scootaloo stood there in the corridor, her eyes downcast. "Sorry, Twilight. It's time for another training session." Scootaloo twiddled her hooves as she tried to come up with some kind of response to Twilight's confused gaze. "Is something wrong? I've been trying to knock for like five minutes."

"Don't worry." Twilight shook her head. "Nothing you can do about it anyway." 

"Don't say that. You're always worried about me. Can't I worry about you for once?"

"I worry about you because you have that hiruko and you rush into everything." Twilight smiled for a brief moment. "Like Rainbow without the experience. Which is why we should hurry cause Zecora will be waiting."

***


"Tell me what is it that you can't live without, what the stone wants? Therefore, we will see what your heart flaunts." 

"I've racked my brain this last week and I'm sorry, but I don't know what it wants. Maybe it just wants to live with others. All I know is that I can't just run off on my own. I need help from Twilight and everyone on the ship. I can't lose my friendships I've gained cause of this stupid rock." Scootaloo sighed as she wiggled uncomfortably out of the meditation position that she had been stuck in for what felt like hours on end. She had recited all these odd phrases in some foreign sounding language and had felt nothing but what she had felt before. That she was in the present moment just stuck.

"For now, that is acceptable, though that means your stone's soul is lost. A purpose lost in the starcrossed seas. I bestow upon you the title of the X'amd of the lost memory. With that your task is to find your reason to survive."

"Thank you Zecora. Even if most of that didn't rhyme."

"So one pays attention to the words, but not the purpose." Zecora smiled as she nodded to Twilight. "You may remove the restraint now. And Crystal Heart, I entrust this lost soul to you."

***


"Another!" Luna wobbled ever so slightly as she quaffed her mead, staring into the dark skies that she could see in the window. She sighed as she saw Derpy, also drunk, try to pout a bit of booze for the alicorn. "How dif-fi-cult is it to have a glass poured?" Luna tried to fire up her magic but she had become ever so slightly unused to binge drinking like this in the years since her banishment so her magic fizzled and flickered as she started to become unfocused.

"L-luna. This is da last one. Why did you start crying after hitting her?" Derpy tried staring at Luna, her eyes focusing on two different points as she passed the alicorn a shot. "I mean I never see you cry."

"Why? No reason." Luna's tail twitched as she tried to calm herself. "Do you mind if I smoke?"

"Fine." Derpy groaned. "Do whatever you wan'. I'm not da boss anyway."

***


"Dr. Fluttershy?" Octavia quickly tapped on the door frame of the clinic she had so meticulously searched for, her Trottingham voice echoing in the large and messy room. "I'm here from the Free Zone Headquarters. My name is Octavia Melody." Octavia picked up a vial and smiled at the murky contents. "The Lunar Republic wants to make a centralized Anti-Ponyform lab here in Ponyville. Centralized location, ease of transport, the like. Your name came up with a great number of recommendations."

Fluttershy walked out of the back of her clinic, bags full of medicine for her daily rounds. "I've learned that being a pacifist is far easier than dealing with guilt. Which is why I'm trying to live peacefully here. Away from all the meaningless wars against some things that want to be left alone. Go back to whoever sent you and tell them to leave me alone."

Octavia bowed."Such a shame. The pony that sent me here told me you'd probably be rather prickly. I'm here by order of one Commander Applejack."

"Applejack?" Fluttershy tensed up, unsure of what that meant. "She's doing well, I mean it's been years since I saw her."

"Oh, indubitably. She's just rather insistent that you come see her for tea. Catch up. Like old friends."

***


Braeburn flipped through his stash of magazines, stopping to focus on a particularly good looking model or two, quickly flipping past Lunar Republic ads and cringing at some of the prices for a few dozen apples. The war had tanked prices for everything, even with trade still happening in small pockets. Braeburn sighed and threw down his magazine in disgust. Glancing over, he noticed Scootaloo grimacing at a letter, half crumpled. He whistled as he noticed that the restraint on her foreleg was missing, which knowing whatever weird mumbo jumbo that Twilight and Zecora had was a good thing. "Looks like you lost the restraint. Want me to write whatever strange missive your heart desires?"

Scootaloo rolled her eyes and turned away. "No."

Braeburn frowned. So much like Dash, but at least Dash tried to be friendly when moping. Getting up, he crossed the room and dangled a pair of perfectly ordinary goggles in the pegasus' face. "Here's my pair of dream goggles so you can meet Sweetie in ya dreams. You can borrow 'em for 60 bits."

Scootaloo tossed the letter aside and pulled out another piece of paper. "Nah, I need to concentrate. Plus you crossed the border of our rooms. Thought that was a no go. Or did I forget? "

Braeburn tossed the goggles back to his bed and crossed his hooves in thought. "Ya really changed there, Scoots, I was tryin' to be nice. Tryin' to lighten' the mood or sumthin'. Not tryin' to bit yer head off. How's the ear ringing anyway?"

"I got a headache now." Scootaloo thought of the day, her mind racing with all the new things she had to deal with. It had been so much easier when she was in Ponyville with her family. With her friends.

"Well just try to stop thinking then. Cool off fer a bit. Look at the stars or sumthin'. At least that's what I do."

***


"Did you find them?" A Lunar Guard Captain yelled at a nearby soldier.

"No. not yet. Though I haven't checked the Eighth Ward yet."

"Shoot them on sight."

Sugar Belle grimaced as she limped out of the Canterlot Slums, her bloody body at least wrapped up with a scrounged bit of bandages and a cloak to try and hide her face from the horde of Lunar soldiers. She prayed to Discord, his coming a comfort to her as she slid over broken cobblestones, her hoofsteps quiet and measured as she hummed softly to herself. She quickly ducked into a nearby house as she heard a rustling sound nearby, her senses acutely focused on anything that seemed out of the ordinary.

"Moondancer, you said we'd find some good specimens here?" A gruff, yet feminine voice echoed through the street. 

"Raven, I'm a good tracker. If I say there's a soul that needs saving or using, then there's one."

Sugar Belle hid further as a pair of cloaked ponies crawled out of the darkness, their cloaks adorned with the marks of the sun, long flowing robes with rays of yellow that told the earth pony exactly who they were. The worst kind of ponies, those who followed the light of the sun and order. The most despicable of creatures.

"Oh aether, you are the ponies who blew up the town. The Celestial Guards." Sugar Belle's world ended as a shot rang out. The last thing she saw as she crumpled on the ground, was cloaked figures gathering little lights that they pulled out of the dead bodies laying all around them. She almost wondered if those were souls.